If your impression of Nanjing is framed by the lantern-lit gondolas of Confucius Temple, you might be puzzled when you walk to Fuzi Bridge in the city center, find Pearl River to the north, or even Chaotian Palace to the west — and discover they all have “Qinhuai River” signs. How is there Qinhuai River everywhere in Nanjing?
Official sources say Nanjing has three Qinhuai Rivers: the Outer Qinhuai, the Inner Qinhuai, and the New Qinhuai River. The Outer Qinhuai wraps around the city, flowing south from Dongshuiguan then west into the Yangtze — it has served as the natural moat for the southern and western city walls since the Ming dynasty. The New Qinhuai River was dug in the 1970s purely for flood diversion. And the Inner Qinhuai? That is the confusing one.
The Inner Qinhuai you know best is the ten-li stretch in front of Confucius Temple in the southern part of the old city. Water enters at Dongshuiguan Lock and exits at Xishuiguan, flowing past Taoye Ferry, Confucius Temple, Zhan Garden, and Zhonghua Gate. This is the river Du Mu wrote about — “mist veils the chilly water, moonlight spreads on the sand.” But if you think the Inner Qinhuai is just one east-west channel, you are mistaken. It splits into two major northward branches inside the city, and that is where the confusion starts.
The Fuzi Branch: Relic of a Five Dynasties Moat
The first northward branch is at Fuzi Bridge. Right after water enters Dongshuiguan, a channel hugs the inner side of the city wall northward, passing Dazhong Bridge, Zhu Bridge, and Fuzi Bridge, all the way to Beimen Bridge. This channel was actually the city moat dug by the Yang Wu kingdom during the Five Dynasties period (circa 930 AD). Before the Ming dynasty, it was the northern moat of Nanjing. When Zhu Yuanzhang expanded the city wall in the Ming, he pushed the wall all the way to Xuanwu Lake, enclosing this moat inside the city and turning it into an urban river.
So when you exit the north gate of the Presidential Palace and see a river at Fuzi Bridge — that is the Yang Wu moat. Near Fuzi Bridge, a tributary branches off to the north: Pearl River (Zhenzhu He). Every spring, cherry blossoms bloom along its banks, making it one of Nanjing’s most popular photo spots. Pearl River has a history far older than the Ming city wall. It was originally the “North City Canal” dug by Sun Hao, the last emperor of Eastern Wu, to channel water from Xuanwu Lake into his palace. During the Southern Chen dynasty, Emperor Chen Houzhu was boating in the rain, saw bubbles on the water, and said, “The river is full of pearls” — and the name stuck.
The Taoye Branch: Relic of the Six Dynasties Qingxi
The second northward branch is at Taoye Ferry. If you walk east along the Inner Qinhuai from Confucius Temple, near Huaiqing Bridge you will find another channel heading north, passing Sixiang Bridge and Nei Bridge. This channel is even older — it is part of the ancient Qingxi (Green Creek) dug by Sun Quan of Eastern Wu in 241 AD. During the Six Dynasties, the Qingxi meandered with nine bends and was the most important water transport route east of the city. When the Yang Wu kingdom built their city, they cut and repurposed the lower section of the Qingxi, which is why the east-west Inner Qinhuai you see near Chaotian Palace today is actually a remnant of the ancient Qingxi.
It is worth noting that in the Six Dynasties, this creek was 120 meters wide and rough enough to be dangerous to cross. That is the true story behind Wang Xianzhi’s famous line — “Just cross, don’t fret, I will come to meet you” — when he ferried his concubine Taoye across the river. Today, the creek has shrunk to 10-20 meters, a quiet water lane in the middle of a bustling city.
Three Channels, One History
What you have been seeing as “three Inner Qinhuai Rivers” is actually three different waterways from three different eras, overlaid on the same city: the Confucius Temple stretch is the ancient main channel of the Qinhuai since the Six Dynasties, enclosed when the Southern Tang moved the southern wall to Zhonghua Gate; the Fuzi Bridge channel is a Five Dynasties moat, enclosed when the Ming expanded the city northward; and the Chaotian Palace stretch is a Three Kingdoms canal, surviving through centuries of modification. They all share the name “Qinhuai” because, over centuries of silt and stone, they became functionally one water system, connected by sluices and interlinked in purpose.
But when you ask “How many Qinhuai Rivers does Nanjing have?” the geographic answer may not matter. The Qinhuai River has long transcended geography. The Panchi Pond in front of Confucius Temple was the sacred water of scholars for centuries; Taoye Ferry carries a love poem that has echoed for a millennium; and Pearl River, despite having changed its name multiple times, has become a vital part of the city’s shared spring landscape.
From the canal of Eastern Wu, to the romantic anecdotes of the Southern Dynasties, to the fortress engineering of the Ming, to the cherry blossoms enjoyed by today’s residents — the Qinhuai River is not a hydrological data point. It is the cultural memory of a city spanning 1,800 years.
So when you see the river at Fuzi Bridge, the relic of the Qingxi near Chaotian Palace, or even the waters of Wumiao Sluice at Xuanwu Lake still breathing the same Qinhuai system, don’t dwell on which branch counts as the “real” Qinhuai River. If someone calls Pearl River the Qinhuai, or even extends the name to the Jinchuan River, that is fine. The Qinhuai River is not defined by its course on a map. It is defined by the history it has flowed through, and the generations it has witnessed.