History of Nanning

Nanning, an ancient city with a long history and rich culture, was part of Baiyue ethnic groups in the ancient time. In the first year of Daxing period of Eastern Jin Dynasty (AD 318), Jinxing County, established here as one of the county towns, ushered a history of 1700 years of Nanning organizational system. During the Zhenguan period of Tang dynasty (AD 632), it was renamed Yong prefecture (Yongzhou) and established Yongzhou government seat, which is why it has been called Yong for short. In the first year of Taiding period of Yuan dynasty (AD1318), Yongzhou was renamed Nanning, meaning the Pacified South.

Nanning was once the territory of the Baiyue people and became the capital of Jinxing Prefecture which was separated from Yulin Prefecture of the Eastern Jin Dynasty.

In 1076 during the Lý–Song War Yongshou was besieged by Lý forces. Under the leadership of Su Jian, the garrison held out for forty-two days before succumbing: The city was razed to the ground and its people massacred.

In the Yuan dynasty in 1324, it was renamed Nanning Lu (Nanning Circuit) of Yongzhou. Historically, Nanning was famous for trade, and had permanent business offices from other areas in China since the Song dynasty.

In the Ming dynasty Nanning developed into an economic center of the Zuo River and the You River with the reputation of “Little Nanjing”.

On December 4, 1949, Nanning was captured by the CPC; in January 1950, Nanning municipality was set up, and identified as the capital city of Guangxi on February 8 of the same year; in March 1958, the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region was established, and Nanning municipality was the capital city.

Nanning serves as host for the annual China-ASEAN EXPO (CASEAN EXPO) which began in 2004 and was the venue for the 2006 “World Robotics Olympiad”.