Nanjing has many highly ranked educational institutions, with the number of universities (13) listed in 147 Double First-Class Universities ranking third (after Beijing and Shanghai), including Nanjing University, which has a long history and is among the world's top 20 universities ranked by Nature Index. Nanjing is also considered a Beta (global second-tier) city classification, together with Chongqing, Hangzhou and Tianjin by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network, and ranked as one of the world's top 100 cities in the Global Financial Centres Index.

It has also been awarded the title of 2008 Habitat Scroll of Honor of China, Special UN Habitat Scroll of Honor Award and National Civilized City. Nanjing has been ranked seventh in the evaluation of 'Cities with Strongest Comprehensive Strength' issued by the National Statistics Bureau, and second in the evaluation of cities with most sustainable development potential in the Yangtze River Delta.

The city is also one of the fifteen sub-provincial cities in the People's Republic of China's administrative structure, enjoying jurisdictional and economic autonomy only slightly less than that of a province. Situated in the Yangtze River Delta region, Nanjing has a prominent place in Chinese history and culture, having served as the capital of various Chinese dynasties, kingdoms and republican governments dating from the 3rd century to 1949, and has thus long been a major center of culture, education, research, politics, economy, transport networks and tourism, being the home to one of the world's largest inland ports. The city has 11 districts, an administrative area of 6,600 km 2 (2,500 sq mi), and a population of 9,423,400 as of 2021.

It is a sub-provincial city, and a megacity. Nanjing ( / n æ n ˈ dʒ ɪ ŋ/ Chinese: 南京 pinyin: Nánjīng, Mandarin pronunciation: ( listen)), alternatively romanized as Nanking, is the capital of Jiangsu province of the People's Republic of China.

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