Nanjing boasts more than 6,000 years of civilization, nearly 2600 years of city history and 500 years as capital of China. It is recognized as one of the Four Great Ancient Capitals of China, Capital of Six Dynasties in ancient China and an important cradle of the Chinese civilization. For thousands of years rolling ahead ceaselessly, the Yangtze River nurtured its civilization along the banks, including that of Nanjing. Adjacent to the Yangtze River, Nanjing is surrounded by mountains with picturesque landscape and numerous places of interest.

As the capital of Jiangsu province in eastern China, Nanjing is the second-largest commercial centre in the East China region after Shanghai and one of the fifteen sub-provincial cities in the People's Republic of China's administrative structure. It is acknowledged as a famous historical and cultural city, a hub in the national transportation system, the core city of Nanjing Metropolitan Area, the center for National Creation and Scientific Innovation, the logistics center for international shipping in the Yangtze River and a portal city to drive the development of central and western China. 

Nanjing is one of the four national centres of education and research, the third largest scientific education center after Beijing and Shanghai, the key industrial production base, the modern service center and advanced manufacturing base, its electronic chemical production capacity ranking the second best in China, the third largest automobile manufacturing base, one of the top 40 cities in physical facilities for investment, the fifth city of Top 50 Comprehensive City Competitiveness, the third best International City Image of China and the seventh most attractive city.

Located in the lower Yangtze River drainage basin and Yangtze River Delta economic zone, Nanjing is an important hub for transportation, shipment and communications. The port of Nanjing is the largest inland river port in Asia. In 2011, Nanjing is ranked fourth in the space value of port cities in China Mainland. It is the base for outsourcing and software export and innovation, the pilot zone for the integration of national industry and information technology, the only pilot city to carry out comprehensive reforms in national scientific systems, the pilot city to build innovation-driven cities and to integrate radio and television networks and telecommunication networks with the Internet.

Nanjing has been granted many rewards, such as International Garden City, the famous hot spring city in the world, China's famous software city, national garden city, one of the top four garden cities in China, China’s excellent tourist city, 2008 Habitat Scroll of Honour of China, the national civilized city, national model green city, national environmental protection model city, national sanitary city, one of top ten cities in comprehensive environmental control, the ethnic unity and progress model city, national science and technology city, and advanced scientific city. All these awards have strengthened the city influence of Nanjing.