The Presidential Office in Nanjing

This majestic office building is at 292 Changjiang Road, Nanjing. Now it is the largest museum of China's modern history in the country. The architecture's earliest history traces back to early stage of the Ming Dynasty. In 1368, Zhu Yuanzhang the first emperor wanted to please the mass public, he decreed to build a palace for Chen Li, the son of local Han King Chen You. Thirty-six years later the second son of Zhu Di became Han King here, so the palace had been called Han King Palace.

In the Qing Dynasty, the palace was being called Office of Viceroy of Zhejiang and Jiangsu Provinces. In 1851, the historically famous peasant revolutionary leader, Hong Xiuquan staged an uprising and founded the Christian "Taiping Heavenly Kingdom" in Guangxi of south China. This renegade state occupied the province, and then Hunan, Hubei, Jiangxi, Anhui and Jiangsu three years later. In March 1953 the Taiping forces breached Nanjing and Hong Xiuquan declared the emperor of the state. Nanjing was then called Heavenly Capital. The Office of Viceroy became Hong's "Christian" revolution center – The Heavenly King House.

Today the Presidential Office's hall is the former site of the majestic temple of the Heavenly King House. The temple was totally burnt by Qing forces during their Nanjing attack led by militarist and official Zeng Guofan (曾国藩, 1811 – 1872).

The site became temporary presidential office for the founding father of modern China, Dr. Sun Yat-sen in 1912. But three months later, northern warlords sabotaged the relatively stable political situation since the successful Democratic Revolution in 1911. He was forced to step down. In 1927, Chiang Kai-shek officially set up Nanjing Nationalist Government here. 

After the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War, Chiang moved China's capital to Chongqing, and the famous Chinese traitor, Wang Jingwei (汪精卫) set up the puppet Nationalist Government in Nanjing city. Chiang returned Nanjing after China's victory over Japan in August 1945. He renamed his Nationalist Government to Government of Republic of China. Thus he became the president of the nation and the office called the Presidential Office. After the liberation in 1949 the office was used as Nanjing Political Consultative Meeting Center. Since 1998, it has been formally opened to general public as a tourist attraction in the city.

The western part of the Presidential Office consists of a Chinese classical garden and the old office rooms of Dr. Sun Yat-sen. The central section is the original Nationalist Government, presidential palace and offices that are affiliated to them. The eastern part is the former site of Kuomintang's Executive Yuan, horse stalls and the East Garden. The complex is a vivid depiction of the essential part of China's history before 1949.