Nanjing, abbreviated as "Ning", is the capital of Jiangsu Province, a sub-provincial city, a mega-city, the core city of Nanjing metropolitan area, an important central city in the eastern region of China, an important national scientific research and education base and a comprehensive transportation hub, as determined by the State Council.

Nanjing is an important scientific and educational center of the country, and has been a city that respects literature and education since ancient times, and is known as "the world's cultural hub" and "the first school in Southeast", with more than half of the top scholars in China in the Ming and Qing dynasties coming from the Nanjing Jiangnan Imperial College. As of 2020, Nanjing has 68 institutions of higher education, including 10 111 universities, 8 211 universities, 12 double-class universities, and 81 academicians of the two academies, which are second only to Beijing and Shanghai; Nanjing is ranked 8th in the world and 3rd in China in the top 20 global research cities.