Place Names In Nanjing Cultural Linguistic Research

Nanjing, the Capital of Six Dynasties and Ten Dynasties, has long and rich history and broad and brilliant culture, which enrich the historical and cultural intensions of its place names. This thesis discusses the culture of Nanjing place names from the angle of cultural linguistics, including: 1. Nanjing place names vs. custom and cultural psychology: expatiation on the cultural psychology of containing "dragon" and "phoenix" and avoiding taboos in Nanjing place names from the aspects of dragon and phoenix totems and language taboos. 2. Nanjing place names vs. religion: analysis of ancestor worship, monarch and Confucianism worship, Matsu worship, Taoism worship and Buddhism worship. 3. Nanjing place names vs. the old imperial examinations: statements on the intensions of the system and culture of the old imperial examination, and analysis of them reflected by the Nanjing place names from the aspects of civil and military imperial examinations. 4. Nanjing place names vs. yamen (the name of the feudal government office in old China) and garrison: introduction and analysis of the characteristics of Nanjing place names from the aspects of yamen, garrison, military supplies, military work and warfare legends. 5. Nanjing place names vs. ancient trades: general expatiation on ancient trades and its features, and classification of all Nanjing place names related to trades according to the features of trades. 6. Nanjing place names vs. historic heroes/heroines and common people. Many of the Nanjing place names are named after the surnames or first names of emperors and ministers, celebrities, famous businessmen and common people due to the close relationship between each.