Nanjing

Nanjing is one of China’s most important cities, and is known as one of the Four Great Ancient Capitals of China (the other three being Beijing, Xi’an and Luoyang) . Because of its location on the Yangtze River, Nanjing served as the capital of 10 Chinese dynasties and regimes totalling 1,800 years, including the Ming dynasty and the Republic of China.

It was politically and economically prominent in dynasties prior but between the 6th and 15th centuries, it served as the capital of the Southern Tang, Song, and Ming dynasties. During the Ming dynasty, Nanjing became the capital of the entire empire of China.

After, the capital was moved to Beijing. By the way, Bei means north and Nan means south. So Beijing is north capitol and Nanjing means south capitol.

The 20th century was a tumultuous time for Nanjing. Dr. Sun Yat-sen, known as the Father of Modern China, established the national seat of government in Nanjing, and China enjoyed wealth and cultural advancement. That was the end of the Qing Dynasty. Actually Sun Yat-sen led the nationalist party to over throw the other warlords in China to establish the new government. When Sun Yat-sen dies, Chiang Kai Shek took over the party.

Confucius temple and street food

After flight delays it was late when we arrived. We headed to the Confucius temple where there was street food. Some times it is the best way to see what local people eat.

Entrance to the food street.
Crab soup pocket. . First you suck the soup pot of the pocket then you eat the dough and crab.
Glutinous Rice with spicy seasoning.
Glutinous Rice with slightly sweet black rice filling inside. Sweet here is not actually sweet as we know it in the US.
Glutinous Rice with mango. It is like a sticky thick jelly ball that is actually sweet.
Lots of people. Not my favorite place to go but it was nice to try food and people watch.
Entrance to Confucius temple.
Museum of the Chinese imperial examinations. This gave nobility to wise people by merit instead of by birth but were very difficult exams. .
Lucky statue of a lion with goat legs.
There were many rickshaws in this area.

The next morning we went to the city wall of Nanjing. It is the largest city wall in China and the world. Some sections are no longer intact and many gates had to be altered for modern roadways.

It is different than the Xian city wall we visited last summer. That wall is all intact and smoother on the top which showed for bicycle riding around the entire perimeter.

Xuanwu gate of the inner city wall. Inside this city wall would also be a wall to protect those in power. There is also an outer city wall.
Jack and I.
This park and lake is outside the city wall where we are. There is so another city wall beyond.
This shot multiple arrows at one time.
Jiefang gate. Many gates had ramps for horses and moving supplies.
These bricks came from surrounding provinces around Nanjing as supplies for building were not local there. Names of donators are carved on them. Each resident was asked to donate for protection of the city.

From there we took the metro to the Nanjing Massacre museum.