Nanjing Travel | One Center of East China

 
Nanjing, literally "the southern capital", was an ancient metropolis of six different dynasties in China. The first dynasty to choose Nanjing as its capital was Eastern Wu during the Three Kingdoms period and named the city "Jian'ye". In the latter years of the Western Jin Dynasty, Nanjing was called "Jian'kang" and it was a name used from beginning of the 3rd century to the end of the 6th century. The city was formally called Nanjing for the first time in the early Ming Dynasty (1368 to 1644 AD). "The city is in a perfect location with majestic scenes of high hills, deep rivers and a big plain. These are the works of the Nature. There is no other city in the world has such a beautiful landscape Nanjing has unlimited development potentials." said Dr. Sun Yat-sen, the founding father of modern China. Nowadays, because of the eagerness for urbanization has negatively affected Nanjing's natural scenery and its valuable heritage.

Night-view of Qinhuai River	Fuzimiao
Ming Xiao Tomb	Dr. Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum
Nanjing Museum	Mochou Lake

【Nanjing History】During Spring and Autumn Period (722BC---481BC), Nanjing bordered on Wu State and Chu State, and Wu State established town here. In BC 472, after Goujian, the King of Yue State, took possession of Wu State and ordered Fan Li, who was said to be a rich businessman and the husband of Xi Shi, to established Town at the side of Qinhuai River. In the period of Six Dynasties (195---557), Nanjing was the capital of China. Currently, the former site of Nanjing as the national capital is well preserved in Nanjing Library. At the time, Nanjing was the largest city in the world with millions of population. In 1368, ZhuYuanzhang was enthroned to be Emperor of Ming Dynasty, and selected Nanjing as the capital of China. And then, Nanjing was comprised of old town district, royal palace district and army stationing district. The latter two parts were established in Ming Dynasty. There was a brick-stone city wall with the total length of 33.68 kilometers built to surround three districts. This is the largest city wall in the world. In 1645, Nanjing was occupied by troops of Qing Dynasty. In 1912, Sun Yat-sen was selected to be the temporary president of Republic of China, and fixed Nanjing as the capital of China. Nanjing is also a heroic city with a sad history. On December 13, 1937, the Japanese army occupied Nanjing and during the following six weeks they exerted a bloody massacre. Some 300,000 Chinese people and soldiers were killed by these utmost barbaric forces. Nanjing people are still commemorating this day of tragedy and humiliation. No one will forget the incident here and it is a heroic symbol for not only the Chinese but all people in the world: pursuing peace and be uniting together against brutality. If a taxi driver knows that you are a person from outside the city, he may recommend you to visit the Memorial Hall to the Victims in the Nanjing Massacre.

【Nanjing Tradition】Anciently, national treasure came from southeast China, and Nanjing was the center of southeast China. Generally, in people’s mind, Nanjing is a gentlemanlike learner, masculine hero and the romantic artist. As a charming city in southeast China, it is partially well-known for its culture and folk custom.

During the lunar Spring Festival, the local of Nanjing has the tradition of sweeping the yards, gardens and houses, decorating the family with color lights, wearing the new clothes and hat, posting the couplets and touching off the firecrackers. The local of Nanjing liked posting the couplets and Door God, some elegant or well-educated family used to post the image of rooster on the door to get the auspicious meaning of getting luckiness with day goes, because in Chinese, Rooster(鸡) has the same pronunciation as Auspiciousness(吉).

The evening of the fifteenth day in the first month of lunar New Year has the first full moon. On that day, Lantern Festival was available. In old days, the duration of lantern festival was one day, in Tang dynasty it was three days, in Song Dynasty, it was five days and in Ming Dynasty, the duration for lantern festival was 10 days from the eighth day to the eighteenth day. The festive eating was changed from bean-made porridge to rice-glued ball or Yuanxiao, Tangyuan. In Ming and Qing Dynasties, Nanjing had the custom of playing dragon lantern and hanging the yarn-made lantern. In the evening, the city is brightened with tens of thousands of lanterns with different styles. There was another kind of lantern named Zoumadeng, literally translated into Running-Horse Lantern. This lantern has cover and the lit candles inside, and the whole lantern could circumrotate automatically by virtue of the Physical Principle of Air Expansion on Heating and Air Contraction on Cooling. All types of running horses painting on the lanterns seem like running naturally.

On tomb-sweeping Day, traditionally it is the day for remembering the ancestry and it is emphasized by all generations in the past. In folk society, people usually carry some cuisines that their ancestors preferred, and burn the false paper-money made by the yellow paper. Also they plant the willow near to the tomb of ancestry. On the day, generally it is the time of spring returning, and many flowers bloom. People always go out for walking to get close to nature.

On the Dragon-Boat Festival, the local like eating Zongzi, Green-bean Cake and some special local snacks. Also the local hangs the calamus to eliminate the evil. They also hang the portrait of Zhong Kui to crack down the evil. The children wear the five-color silk bag on the neck and a boiled duck egg in it. And their arms are also worn with the five-color silks which named Longevity Silk. Children also wear the tiger-head shoes and their foreheads are painted with realgar wine themed with Chinese Character Wang(王). After lunch, all family members would go to Fuzimiao to see the dragon-boat game.

On the days of Middle-Autumn Festival and Double-Nine Festival, the programmes concerned are also diversified. Middle-Autumn Festival is also called Lunar August Festival. It is the festival for family member gathering to enjoy the family dinner and moonlight together in their family yards or at the riverside of Qinhuai River. Generally people eat mooncake after dinner and some well-educated people would make poems or create calligraphy or make painting. Double-Nine Festival is the senior’s day; generally they would climb the mountain. Currently there are also a lot of modern festivals like Nanjing International Plum Festival, Linggu Laurel Festival, Gaochun Crab Festival, Pukou Eco-Tour Festival.

【Nanjing Attractions】Nanjing abounds in Tourist Attractions. Different level scenic areas are all available. The famous attractions include Fuzimiao, Qinhuai River, Ming Xiao Tomb, Qixia Mountain and Dr. Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum and so on. To the newcomers, Nanning museum is a better place to understand more about Nanjing. Historically, Nanjing was a great place for men of letter. Inheriting such a tradition, modern Nanjing has some 40 universities and colleges as well as more than 300 scientific research institutes, several art troupes and a theatre for Kunqu opera, from which about 100 kinds of modern opera in China derived. Nanjing Library is the third biggest library in China in terms of its collection. The Nanjing Museum boasts a rich collection of arts and crafts. Nowadays Nanjing is the provincial capital of Jiangsu and it is one of the economic and cultural centers in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River. It has started its voyage to the outside world.

【People】"Big Parsnip" is a strange nickname referred to Nanjing people by the Shanghainese. This is to describe locals' enthusiastic attitude towards visitors come from large cities, because Shanghai people are regarding themselves as urban inhabitants but Nanjing people not. This thought means Nanjing is city very different from Shanghai. Indeed, Shanghai is a cosmopolitan akin to the Big Apple in the US, while Nanjing is a very place for nostalgic, even rustic or old-fashioned sometimes, literati. 99 percent of the 6.7 million people in Nanjing are Han Chinese and the ethnic minorities are migrants from outside the city or their descendents. Affected by the city's ancient atmosphere, the clothing of its people is not belonged to urban style.

【Transportation】Nanjing is one of the traffic hubs in eastern China. Nanjing Lukou International Airport is 35 km from the downtown, offering 85 air routes to 50 cities around the world. There are frequent buses linking some big hotels to the airport.  Train transportation is very convenient in Nanjing where it is located on various essential rail lines of the country. There are direct trains to Shanghai, Hangzhou, Beijing, Tianjin, Harbin, Changchun, Shenyang and Xian.  Zhongyangmen Distance Passenger Station at No. 1, Jianning Road is the main long distance bus station in Nanjing, the Shanghai-Nanjing Express via Suzhou, Wuxi, Changzhou and Zhenjiang. It leaves at 20 or 30 minutes interval.  Water traffic. Cruises are available to Chongqing via Jiujiang and Wuhan, and to Shanghai via Zhenjiang and Nantong. Urban traffic. The metro, bus and taxi are the best way to travel the city. Metro and bus routes can take travelers to various tourist attractions in the city. The starting fare for per taxi trip is 8 RMB Yuan in the first 3 km and 2.4 Yuan per km afterwards.

【Geography】Most of the 976 sq. km area of Nanjing is mountainous. Zijinshan, Mufu and Qixia Mountains made up the western Ningzhen Ranges. The Yangtze River flows its way east with many notable sandbanks in the Nanjing section of it into Zhenjiang. The Qinhuaihe River is the most famous waters in Nanjing, with which and the Yangtze, the city has taken it shape at the confluence of these two rivers.

【Climate】Nanjing is in the subtropical monsoon climate zone with long summer and winter. As one of the "four furnaces" in China (the other three are Chongqing, Wuhan and Nanchang), the daytime high temperature may reach to 40 degrees Celsius when the light southwesterly wind is blowing and the sky is clear. Most of the city's rainfall is in June and July. The winter temperature often down to below zero but the air is drier compared to summer.