- John Rabe
John Rabe (November 23, 1882 - January 5, 1949) was a German businessman whose Nanjing Safety Zone sheltered some 200,000 Chinese from slaughter during the Nanjing Massacre. Born in Hamburg, Germany, Rabe pursued a career in business and went to Africa for several years. In 1908 he left for China, and between 1910 and 1938, he worked for the Siemens AG China Corporation in Shenyang, Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai and later Nanjing.
- Wang Jingwei
Wang Jingwei (May 4, 1883 - November 10, 1944) was a Chinese politician. He was a member of the left wing of the Kuomintang (KMT) and is most noted for disagreements with Chiang Kai-shek and forming a Japanese supported collaborationist government in Nanjing. He has often been labeled as a "Traitor to the Han Chinese".
- Li Wei
Li Wei (Chinese:李卫; Styled Youjie 又玠; Posthumous name Minda 敏达; 1687-1738) was a famous mandarin during the reign of the Yongzheng Emperor (1722-1735) of the Qing Dynasty who was instrumental in carrying out Yongzheng's nationwide reforms in his role in various regional governing positions. Li was a native of Tongshan, Jiangnan (present-day Xuzhou, Jiangsu), and was orphaned at age 10. He was not very literate, …
- Yang Yang
Yang Yang (born December 9, 1963 in Nanjing, Jiangsu) is a former Chinese badminton player. He is the only badminton player in the world to have won two World Badminton Championships men's singles titles consecutively. He also won the gold medal in badminton as a demostration sport at the 1988 Summer Olympics, in men's singles. He possessed high agility and quick footwork, and is regarded as an offensive singles player.
- Li Yu
Li Yu (given name: Xianlu 仙侣; style name: Liweng 笠翁) (1610—1680) was a Chinese playwright, novelist and publisher. Born in Rugao, he lived in late-Ming and early-Qing dynasties. Li was an actor, producer, and director as well as a playwright, who traveled with his own troupe. His play "Fengzheng Wu" (风筝误 "Errors caused by the Kite") remains a favourite of the Chinese Kun opera stage.
- Minnie Vautrin
Wilhelmina (Minnie) Vautrin was an American missionary renowned for saving the lives of many women at the Ginling Girls College in Nanking, China during the Nanjing Massacre. Minnie Vautrin was born in Secor, Illinois. She was hard working and spent much of her childhood and teen years earning money to attend college. At 17, she attended Illinois State University in Normal, Illinois. She then graduated from the University of Illinois.
- Yongle Emperor
The Yongle Emperor (May 2, 1360 - August 12, 1424), born Zhu Di, was the third emperor of the Ming Dynasty of China from 1402 to 1424. His era name means "Perpetually Jubilant". His usurpation of the throne is now sometimes called the "Second Founding" of the Ming. He is generally considered one of the greatest emperors of the Ming Dynasty, and to be among the greatest Chinese emperors.
- Wang Zhi
Wang Zhi (汪直) was a Chinese pirate and trader of the 16th century, one of the chief named and known figures among the "wokou" ("Japanese" pirates) prevalent at the time. It is said he was aboard the Portuguese ship of Fernão Mendes Pinto when it landed on Tanegashima, off the coast of Japan in 1543, marking the first contact between Europe and Japan.
- Cao Xueqin
Cao Xueqin is the author of "Dream of the Red Chamber", believed by many to be the greatest novel written in the Chinese language. His given name was Cao Zhan (曹霑) and his courtesy name is Mengruan
- Zhang Yuan
Zhang Yuan (Traditional: 張元; Simplified: 张元; pinyin: Zhāng Yuán) (born 1963, Nanjing, China) is a Chinese film director. Zhang received a BA in Cinematography from the Beijing Film Academy in 1989. He is a member of China's Sixth Generation of film directors.
- Xu Beihong
Xu Beihong (July 19, 1895 - September 26, 1953) (born in Yixing, Jiangsu) was a Chinese painter. Considered a modern master in China, his merging of Western techniques with classic Chinese approaches was unmatched. He is particularly known for his "shuimohua" depictions of horses and birds. Xu began studying classic Chinese works and calligraphy with his father Xu Dazhang when he was six, and Chinese painting when he was nine.
- Liu Zhi
Liu Zhi (ca. 1660 - ca. 1739) was a Chinese Muslim scholar of the Qing period from Nanjing.
- Prince Asaka
of Japan, was a the founder of a collateral branch of the Japanese imperial family and a career officer in the Imperial Japanese Army. A son-in-law of Emperor Meiji and an uncle-in-law of Emperor Shōwa (Hirohito), Prince Asaka was commander of Japanese forces in the final assault on Nanjing, then the capital city of Nationalist China in December 1937. He was implicated in the Nanjing massacre, but never charged.
- Su Tong
Su Tong is the pen name of a Mainland Chinese writer born in Suzhou and now based in Nanjing. His name is Su Zhonggui (童中贵). He is best known for his book "Wives and concubines" in the West, published in the 1990. The book was adapted into the film, "Raise the Red Lantern" by director Zhang Yimou. The book has since been published under the name given to the film.
- Gu Kaizhi
Gu Kaizhi (ca. 344-406), is a celebrated painter of ancient China. According to historical records he was born in Wuxi, Jiangsu province and first painted at Nanjing in 364. In 366 he became an officer (Da Sima Canjun, 大司马参军). Later he was promoted to royal officer (Sanji Changshi, 散骑常侍). He was also a talented poet and calligrapher. He wrote three books about painting theory: "On Painting" (画论), …
- Huang Fu
Huang Fu (黃郛) (1883-1936) was a general and politician in early republican China. He was born in Hangzhou. Huang came in contact with the Revolutionary Alliance while studying in a military academy in the Empire of Japan. During the Xinhai Revolution, he and Chen Qimei declared Shanghai independent and became a sworn brother of Chiang Kaishek.
- Shitao
Yuanji Shitao, born Zhu Ruoji (1642 - 1707) was a Chinese artist. Born in Quanzhou County in Guangxi province, Shitao was a member of the Ming royal house. He narrowly avoided catastrophe in 1644 when the Ming dynasty fell to invading Manchurians and civil rebellion. Having escaped by chance from the fate to which his lineage would have assigned him, Shitao assumed the name Yuanji Shitao no later than 1651 when he became a Buddhist monk.
- Yang Hucheng
Yang Hucheng (26 November 1893 - 6 September 1949) was a Chinese warlord during the Warlord Era of Republican China and Kuomintang general during the Chinese Civil War. A bandit of unknown origins, Yang Hucheng had become a popular warlord of Shaanxi Province by 1926. Following the defeat of Feng Yuxiang and Yan Xishan in the Central Plains War of 1930, …
- Yang Bin
Yang Bin (楊斌) (born 1961) is a Chinese-Dutch businessman who was formerly listed as the second richest man in China by Forbes for 2001. He once held assets in the horticulture and real estate industries, owning stakes in the Euro-Asia Agricultural Holdings and Holland Village, China. His fall from grace came in 2002, when he was arrested on charges of tax evasion. He was later sentenced to 18 years in prison.
- Zu Chongzhi
Zu Chongzhi (429–500 AD) was a prominent Chinese mathematician and astronomer during the Liu Song and Southern Qi Dynasties (of the Southern Dynasties).
- Li Qingzhao
Li Qingzhao (Traditional Chinese: 李清照; Simplified Chinese: 李清照, pinyin: Lǐ Qīngzhào; Wade-Giles: Li Ch'ing-chao) (1084-c. 1151) was a Chinese writer and poet of the Song Dynasty, regarded by many as the premier woman poet in the Chinese language. She was born in Licheng to a family of officials and scholars; her father was a friend of Su Shi. Before she got married, her poetry was already well known with elite circles.
- Liu E
Liu E (18 October 1857—23 August 1909), his courtesy name was Tieyun (铁云) and his pen name was Hongdu Bailian Sheng (洪都百炼生, "Hundred Refining Man of Hongdu"), was a Chinese functionary, economic proponent, writer and novelist. Liu was born in Liuhe (now Nanjing). In the government he worked with flood control, famine relief, and railroads.
- Tang Shengzhi
Tang Shengzhi, Tang Sheng-chih, (1889-April 6, 1970) was a Chinese warlord during the Warlord Era, a military commander during the Second Sino-Japanese War, and a politician after World War II. During the warlord era, Tang first sided with Chiang Kai-shek and helped him to secure the control of northern Beijing and Tianjin region by removing Bai Chongxi, a Guangxi warlord was in actual control of the region and was ostensively allied with Chiang Kai-shek.
- Yang Xiuqing
Yang Xiuqing, organizer and commander-in-chief of the Taiping Rebellion. Yang was a salesman of firewood in Guangxi province before he joined the rebellion. In 1848 he converted to Christianity after reporting that he had experienced visions of God. In 1850 he began to claim that he could miraculously heal true believers. He was an early participant in the rebellion and rose quickly to prominence; in 1851, when Hong Xiuquan took the title of Heavenly King for himself, …
- Gong Xian
Gong Xian (1618-1689; some sources give his birth year as early as 1617 or as late as 1620; born in Kunshan, Jiangsu) was a Chinese painter, the most important of the Eight Masters of Nanjing and the leading painter of the Nanjing school. Primarily a landscape painter, mountains were the subject of most of Gong Xian's paintings. Willows are also a common theme in his work. Gong Xian was part of the Ming aristocracy, …
- Tan Yankai
Tan Yankai (1876-1930) was a Chinese politician from Hunan. A member of Liang Qichao's Constitutionalist Party, he campaigned for a parliament and restrained monarchy. As the party renamed itself the Progressive Party after the Xinhai Revolution, he was a major leader. He left and joined the Kuomintang and became military governor of his home province. His support for Sun Yatsen's attempt to overthrow President Yuan Shikai in 1913 led to his ouster.
- Liu Ling
Liu Ling, born 221 and died 300, was a Chinese poet and scholar. Little information survives about his family background, though he is described in historical sources as short and unattractive, with a dissipated appearance. One of the Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove, Liu Ling was a Taoist who retreated to the countryside in order to pursue a spontaneous and natural existence that would have been impossible under the tight constraints of the Imperial court.
- Xu Zhonglin
Xu Zhonglin (dates of birth and death unknown) was born in Nanjing, which was called Ying Tianfu (應天府;应天府) in the Ming dynasty. He was commonly known as the author of "Fengshen Yanyi" (封神演義;封神演义) (translated as "The Investiture of the Gods" or "The Creation of the Gods" in English). Some say Xu wrote this book for a trousseau for his daughter. His "hao"(號,号), a kind of Chinese courtesy name, …
- Wu Jingzi
Wu Jingzi was a Chinese scholar and writer born in now Chuzhou, Anhui and died in Yangzhou, Jiangsu. Wu was born into a well-to-do family, his father Wu Linqi (吳霖起) was a Qing official, but met no success himself. He attempted the Jinshi examination, but placed only at the county level. Poverty stricken by the age of thirty-two, he moved to Nanjing, where he met and acquainted himself with many government officials.
- Ge Fei
Ge Fei (Chinese: 葛菲; born October 9, 1975 in Nanjing, Jiangsu) was a Chinese female badminton player in the 1990s. She is married with the famous badminton player Sun Jun.
- Hongxi Emperor
The Hongxi Emperor (August 16, 1378-May 29, 1425) was an Emperor of the Ming Dynasty in China. He succeeded his father, Yongle, in 1424. Yongle's eldest son Zhu Gaozhi was born August 16, 1378 and was educated by prominent Confucian tutors. He often acted as regent at Nanjing or at Beijing during his father's northern military campaigns. As soon as he became Emperor Hongxi in September 1424, …
- Taixu
Venerable Master Taixu, 1890-1947, was a Buddhist activist and thinker who advocated the reform and renewal of Buddhism in China. Taixu was born in Hǎiníng (海寧/海宁) in Zhejiang province. His lay name was Lǚ Pèilín (呂沛林). His parents died when he was still young, and he was raised by his grandparents. At 16 he was ordained into the Linji school of Chan Buddhism in Xiao Jiǔhuá Temple (小九華寺/小九华寺) in Suzhou.
- John Yu
Dr. John Samuel Yu AC is a distinguished paediatrics doctor. Born in Nanjing, China, he attended Fort Street High School in Sydney, Australia. He was the Chief Executive Officer of the Royal Alexandra Hospital for Children at the time of its relocation from inner-city Camperdown to Westmead in western Sydney in 1995 (the hospital now uses the name The Children's Hospital at Westmead in addition to its official title), …
- Yung Wing
Yung Wing. Born in Zhuhai in Guangdong province, he studied in Robert Morrison's missionary schools as a boy where Tong King-sing was a classmate. Yung was the first Chinese student to graduate from a U.S. university, graduating from Yale College in 1854. He was a member of the Phi chapter of the Delta Kappa Epsilon Fraternity. After finishing his studies Yung Wing returned to China and worked with western missionaries as an interpreter.
- Sun Chuanfang
Sun Chuanfang aka the "Nanking Warlord" or leader of the "League of Five Provinces" was a Zhili clique warlord and protege of the "Jade Marshal" Wu Peifu (1874-1939). He was given command of Zhejiang in 1924. By the next two years he expanded his rule to Jiangsu, Fujian, Anhui, and Jiangxi. He set his headquarters in Nanjing.
- Hong Rengan
Hong Rengan was an important leader of the Taiping Rebellion. He was the cousin of the movement's founder and spiritual leader Hong Xiuquan. His position as the Prince Gan (干王) resembled the role of a Prime Minister. He is a noted figure in history because of the sweeping reforms attempted under his rule, and because of his popularity in the West. When Hung Xiuquan called for his cousin Hong Rengan to come to Nanjing to help him rule, …
- Du Xigui
Du Xigui (1875-1933) was a Chinese admiral during the warlord era. Born in Fuzhou, he graduated from Nanjing's naval college in 1902. In 1922, he was made chief of the navy and helped the Zhili clique defeat Zhang Zuolin. In the spring of 1923, Shanghai's fleet rebelled and Du took responsibility by resigning but was recalled in November. In 1924, he commanded the Yangtze fleet of Jiangsu and defeated the Anhui clique's Zhejiang fleet led by Lin Jianzhang.
- Zhang Zongchang
Zhang Zongchang (1881 - 1932), nicknamed the "Dogmeat General," was a Chinese warlord in Shandong in the early 20th century. Born in poverty in Yi County (now Laizhou) in Shandong, he joined a bandit gang in 1911 and rose quickly after the bandits took service in the forces of the warlord of Jiangsu. After his defeat by rivaries, Zhang Zongchang sought refuge under Zhang Zuolin's power, and he made a good impression for himself at Zhang Zuolin's birthday party.
- Zhou Fohai
Zhou Fohai, Chinese politician, and second in command of Wang Jingwei's collaborationist Nanjing Nationalist Government Executive Yuan. Born in Hunan Province in 1897, Zhou chose a political career after studying in Japan. He attended the first conference of Communist Party of China in July 1921 but quit the Party in 1924 to join the Kuomintang and his political career began while he was assigned to the publicity department of the central government.
- Gang Tian
Gang Tian (1958 -) is a Chinese mathematician and an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. He is known for his contributions to geometric analysis and quantum cohomology, among other fields. He was born in Nanjing, China, but now divides his time between Princeton University and Peking University.