I'm back in Wuxi from Nanjing! Wow, the weather for last weekend was extremely warm. No wonder Nanjing is one of China's three furnaces. Anyway, I had been to Zhongshan Ling, Ming Xiao Ling, Fuzi Miao and Zongtong Fu. Hmm, uncertain about the names of the places I mentioned? Haha...I'll explain more along the way.

So after arriving in Nanjing via train and checking in with a youth hostel, I quickly set off to Zhongshan Ling, one of the city's highlights. Zhongshan Ling is actually the mausoleum of Dr. Sun Yat-sen, the founder of modern China. And it is situated on Zijin Shan, which I must say to have a really nice, peaceful environment.




By the way, the following two photos are exclusively shot as I didn't know that no photo is allowed to be taken in the Memorial Hall, until the hall's personnel was shouting at me with some nonsense. Oops.




After viewing Dr. Sun Yat-sen's tomb in the Memorial Hall, I went to the exhibition, which is just behind the Memorial Hall. And it is full of historic data and photos. Certainly interesting.





Then, after that, I took a ride (which is provided inside the Zijin Shan park) to Ming Xiao Ling. Ming Xiao Ling is the tomb of the founder of Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuan-zhang. The site has recently been polished up with funds from UNESCO after being recognised as a World Heritage Site.







And not far from Ming Xiao Ling, there is the Shen Dao, which means the Sacred Way. And Shen Dao is a pleasant walkway half a kilometer long lined with stone carvings of 12 pairs of animals. The second half of the passageway, flanked by pairs of soldiers and mandarins, leads to Four Square Pavillion.





At around 4pm, I completed the visit of Zhongshan Ling and Ming Xiao Ling, and decided to go back to the town to have a meal and rest. After my KFC meal, I happened to pass by Nanjing 1912. And it really looks like Shanghai's famous Xintiandi, and with Starbucks starting off the fun of the place. But when I was there, it seems to be still early for any fun. I was too tired too, which led me to go back to the hostel to have a shower and rest.




However, at night, I did walked around Fuzi Miao, as someone told me that Fuzi Miao is famous for its night scenery and night market. Haha...so true. But it was very crowded too. Haiz.

Anyway, on the next day, I checked out early to have MacDonald's breakfast at Fuzi Miao. Hmm...it's still quite interesting in the daytime. At least everything is clear in front of you.




After that, I left for Zongtong Fu. And Zongtong Fu, also known as the Presidential Palace, serves as the seat of government of the Liangjiang viceroy's office (1671-1911), the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom (1853-64), Sun Yat-sen's provisional government (1912), and the Nationalist government (1927-37 and 1946-49). Though this presidential palace dates from the Ming dynasty, today's buildings were all built after 1870. Just inside the main entrance, the Great Hall marked by the words, "Tian Xia Wei Gong" (The world belongs to all) used to be the first in a series of nine magnificent halls during the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. On January 1, 1912, provisional president of the new Chinese republic Sun Yat-sen held his inauguration here. Indeed, Zongtong Fu has borne witness to all the important events and personalities in Nanjing's history













By noon, I completed exploring Zongtong Fu, and realised that Nanjing Central Library is just in front of Zongtong Fu. Haha..quite modern and beautiful.




And finally, I took a train back to Wuxi at around 3pm. My impression of Nanjing? Many traces of the Chinese history. Worthwhile to go if you like to see things related to history, or even modern China.