The Literary Geography of Nanjing in Ge Liang's Novel Scarlet Finch

Ge Liang's novel Scarlet Finch employs a meticulous narrative style to depict Nanjing's cultural heritage and humanistic spirit, as well as the city's unique character—one that embraces classical traditions while embracing moderni-ty—forged by its distinctive natural geography and profound historical legacy. Taking Ge Liang's novel Scarlet Finch as a case study, this paper employs literary geography to analyze the depictions of natural and human geographical envi-ronments within the work. It interprets two representative geographical sym-bols—the Qinhuai River and the Scarlet Finch—to explore the multifaceted connotations of the geographical spaces and imagery presented in Scarlet Finch: the historical orientation of urban memory, the folk orientation of the “radish spirit,” and the urban orientation blending old and new.