Before the Republic of China, the place name Nanjing was used by many dynasties. For example, the Liao Dynasty established by the Khitans once set up Nanjing Jingjin Province near present-day Beijing, referred to as Nanjing. In the novel and TV series "Eight Parts of the Heavenly Dragon", the Nanjing that Xiao Feng went to after being crowned the King of the Southern Courtyard by the Liao Daoist Emperor Yelü Hongji is actually the current Beijing. But on the ground in present-day Jiangsu Province, the name Nanjing was only used by the Ming Dynasty before the Republic of China!
Before the Ming Dynasty, the place in present-day Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, was called Moling, Danyang, Jiankang, Jianye, Jiqing, Jinling, Yingtian... The only thing is that it has not been called Nanjing! In the sixteenth year of the Yuan Dynasty, The Ming Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang led his troops to conquer Jiqing, and immediately changed the Jiqing Road of the Yuan Dynasty to Ying Tianfu. In the first year of Hongwu, Zhu Yuanzhang officially proclaimed himself emperor, and designated Ying Tianfu as the Nanjing of the Ming Dynasty, corresponding to Kaifeng Prefecture in Beijing (called Bieliang Road during the Yuan Dynasty). In the eleventh year of Hongwu, Zhu Yuanzhang ordered Kaifeng Province to "strike Beijing" and abolish kaifeng as the beijing of the Ming Dynasty, but the name Nanjing was retained. It was not until the first year of Yongle that Ming Chengzu Zhu Di ordered to change his former "dragon diving land" Beiping to Beijing Shuntianfu, and the Ming Dynasty's Beijing reappeared. Since then, until the death of the Ming Dynasty, the "two capital system" has always existed, and Nanjing has always been called Nanjing Ying Tianfu. The area around Nanjing, the current two provinces and one city of Suwan and Shanghai, was all included in the central areas directly under the Jurisdiction of the Ming Dynasty, known as the Southern Zhili, and the corresponding northern Zhili around Beijing.
In the second year of qing shunzhi, the Qing dynasty abolished the direct subordination of the south, replaced the jiangnan chengzheng envoy department, and changed the tianfu to Jiangning Province. Since then, the name Nanjing has ceased to exist! Whoever openly calls Jiangning Province Nanjing again is "anti-Qing" and will be severely punished by the Qing Dynasty. Later, the Qing Dynasty established Jiangnan Province, which in turn divided Jiangnan Province into two and relocated Jiangsu Province and Anhui Province. However, no matter how it was changed, this place in Nanjing was always called Jiangning Province, until the Provisional Government of the Republic of China headed by Mr. Zhongshan changed the name of Jiangning Province to Nanjing Province in the first year of the Republic of China, and the name Nanjing did not appear again. In other words, when the Treaty of Nanjing, which humiliated the country, was signed, the place of Nanjing was not called Nanjing, but Jiangning Province. So, where did the word Nanking in the Treaty of Nanking come from?
In fact, the Qing Dynasty never called this treaty of mourning power and humiliation the country the Treaty of Nanking. When it was first signed, because it was signed in Jiangning, this treaty was also known as the "Jiangning Treaty". But this treaty is too humiliating and humiliating, especially the English version, more straightforward! So much so that the officials who signed the treaty did not dare to translate the English version of the treaty literally into Chinese the version reported on the approval of the Guangdi Emperor. As a result, the Chinese version of the treaty after being modified by the "Spring and Autumn Brushwork" was sent to the Daoguang Emperor's case. The "naïve" Daoguang Emperor actually thought that after the treaty was signed, the world would be at peace, so he personally gave the paper treaty the name "Ten Thousand Years peace treaty". Because of the intervention of the Daoguang Emperor, the "Ten Thousand Years Peace Treaty" also became the official name of the "Treaty of Nanjing" given by the Qing Dynasty.
However, the so-called "Ten Thousand Years Peace Treaty" modified by the "Spring and Autumn Brushwork" was not recognized by the British at all, and the robbers only recognized the English version! So, what is the English version of the Treaty of Nanking called? Treaty of Perpetual Peace and Friendship between China and Great Britain, translated as Chinese is the Uk-China Permanent Treaty of Peace and Friendship. I have seen shameless people, but I have never seen such a shameless person! Obviously, it is an open fire that insists on robbing other people's homes, and it is even shameless to say what "peace" and "friendship" are ... This is what some well-known "civilized nations" have done! Because it was signed in Nanjing, the British side referred to this treaty as TheTreaty of Nanking, which translates into Chinese is the Treaty of Nanking.
The reason why the British translated Jiangning Province into Nanjing is probably due to habit. Although the Qing Dynasty did not recognize the place name Nanjing, the people of Nanjing still called it that in private. The British did not know the Tao, the locals called this place Nanjing, they directly transliterated it as Nanking. Just like Hong Kong in those days, according to the pronunciation of the local Cantonese, the English name of Hong Kong was transliterated by the British as Hong Kong. Of course, it is not excluded that Europeans have long known this place in Nanjing, after all, the Ming Dynasty still has contacts with Europe, the Italian Matteo Ricci once went to China during the Ming Dynasty, and it is not surprising that Europeans know the name of Nanjing, and it is normal to transliterate it as Nanking. Although the Qing Dynasty replaced the Ming Dynasty and Nanjing became jiangning province, Europeans did not understand the doorway, and it still made sense to use the name Nanking.
Later, with the Republic of China, Jiangning Province was renamed Nanjing, and later Nanjing even became the capital of the Nationalist government. We Chinese historians have agreed to use the Treaty of Nanking to refer to this unequal treaty of loss of power and humiliation of the country. After the founding of New China, the name Nanjing was retained, and Jiangning became a county and district under Nanjing, and historians naturally followed the naming rules of the Republic of China period and continued to retain the term "Treaty of Nanjing".