The Nanjing Mandarin Garden Hotel is right smack in the middle of a shopping street bustling with people. This luxurious international five-star hotel is strategically located in the city’s most active district, just north of the Confucius Temple and the Qinhuai River. The hotel boasts…Read More

The Nanjing Mandarin Garden Hotel is right smack in the middle of a shopping street bustling with people. This luxurious international five-star hotel is strategically located in the city’s most active district, just north of the Confucius Temple and the Qinhuai River.

The hotel boasts 500 guest rooms with all the basic amenities, with recreational facilities as well as Western and Chinese specialty restaurants. A must try is the buffet at the Humprey’s Café and Lounge, which is situated at the hotel lobby. Displaying a Chinese buffet style concept, the main dishes consist mainly of pork; braised pork, roasted pork, sweet-and-sour pork; any flavor the heart desires. The famous Nanjing salted duck and other famous local delicacies are also served on the menu.

Just around the corner from the hotel is the Nanjing Confucius Temple, or Fuzimiao, dedicated to the famous ancient Chinese philosopher. The temple was built in the Song Dynasty in the year 1034, and not only contains the temple itself, but also the Imperial Academy where provincial and national examinations were held once a year. Though the temple was burnt to ashes by the Japanese invaders back during the Nanjing War, it has been restored to its original style in the year 1984.

I did not have the chance to visit inside the temple for it was already closed when our tour group reached the hotel just south of the temple. Nevertheless, the surrounding street from the Confucius Temple was still jam packed with locals and tourists. This shopping district, also known as the Confucius Temple, was a red-light district in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. This is mainly due to the yearly national examinations held here, and the economy around the district flourished with the setting up of teahouses, libraries, accommodations, and whorehouses, providing services to the thousands that came to prove themselves worthy for an administrative position in the Imperial Palace.

We had a fun time walking around the lively street filled with lights, small stalls, and shops selling food, local snacks, clothes, souvenirs, and many more. I even managed to grab some barbecued meat sticks, steamed buns, fried dumplings, and sugar cherries to munch while shopping. Just in front of the Confucius Temple, people gathered around to sit, eat, and talk next to a screen wall with a lighted dragon on it. A small stream runs through the street, an ancient river known as the Qinhuai River.

At approximately 9:30pm, all shops started closing. We then headed off for a supper of pork ribs, noodle soup, and dumplings at a nearby food stall before heading back to the Nanjing Mandarin Garden Hotel just a few steps away.

Close

At night Nanjing's neon clad boulevards and its plethora of bars and restaurants exude a youthfulness that can become almost intoxicating. For this reason i found the place particularly fascinating, especially considering the massive contrast it presents to the defining moment in the city's history—…Read More

At night Nanjing's neon clad boulevards and its plethora of bars and restaurants exude a youthfulness that can become almost intoxicating. For this reason i found the place particularly fascinating, especially considering the massive contrast it presents to the defining moment in the city's history— 1933's massacre by the Japanese.My friend Oz and I had spent the previous evening enjoying a few beers in Nanjing's pretty vibrant student area. Consequently we were in high spirits as we headed off to the Memorial Hall. It is at this point that I feel I have to confess that I knew precious little about what happened in Nanjing in the 1930s. Iris Chang's 'Rape of Nanking' was a book I always noticed on the shelf, but ultimately always managed to to ignore. After having seen the Memorial and learnt so graphically of what happened, that is something I now feel deeply guilty about. It is safe to say though, I could not have had my eyes opened with any greater ferocity. Over 300,000 men, women and children were killed by the advancing Imperial Japanese forces in Nanjing. The Memorial ensures that fact escapes no-one, basing almost everything around that one astronomical figure. In the opening courtyard you cannot escape it—it is there twice, etched in stone. First it sits high on an imposing stone pillar just inside the gate and then it reappears at the far end on a similarly emphatic mural. However, not even these less than subtle pointers can prepare you for the heart of the memorial.From the courtyard the visitor climbs a set of stairs and is confronted by what, at first glance, appears to be a gravel covered park. It is only as you read the inscription on a stone tablet that lies next to your feet, that you begin to grasp the significance. Again the all too monstrous number surfaces once more; each stone represents a life lost and lies there in memorial.By this point I was beginning to feel just a little bit overwhelmed. Around the stones were a series of further tablets, each describing the string atrocities that contributed to the massacre. After reading them Oz and I were reduced to communicating in a series of sighs and rather confused shakes of the head.We found little else to say as we passed through the next section, a mausoleum and excavated mass grave. The ferocity of the attacks and the sheer horror could not have been any clearer. The sea of bones on display—many of which were snapped, shattered or fragmented—were each colored with either a red, a yellow, or a blue ribbon to denote men, women and children. The bright colors seemed quite frighteningly out of place, but worked uncannily well to grab the attention.The memorial is followed by a museum, which in all honesty can say nothing the stones, bones or even just the number do not say with force. Despite this though, it includes some harrowing pictures and written testimony that, had everything before already done so, would leave the casual observer lost for words. I do not believe I have seen anything in China that effected me quite so much as the Memorial. We exited into a bright winter's afternoon, although I have to say it took me a while to perk up and enjoy the rest of the city. Close

Being a Chinese myself, I have heard countless times the stories of the Nanjing Holocaust from my great-grandparents and grandparents alike. Watching movies and reading books like the "Rape of Nanking" has given me an insight into those terrible, horrible times. Nevertheless, of all the…Read More

Being a Chinese myself, I have heard countless times the stories of the Nanjing Holocaust from my great-grandparents and grandparents alike. Watching movies and reading books like the "Rape of Nanking" has given me an insight into those terrible, horrible times. Nevertheless, of all the things I have seen and heard, none has ever come close to the gruesome reality and shocking portrayal of that atrocious episode of Nanjing’s history depicted at the Memorial Hall of the Victims in the Nanjing Massacre.

The Nanjing Massacre Memorial hall was built in the 1980s in memory of more than 300,000 victims killed by the invaders from 13 December 1937 to January 1938. During those 6 weeks of nightmare, innocent civilians were brutally slaughtered, beheaded, burned, raped, and buried alive. This massacre has haunted the Nanjing people for years, an incident never forgotten and forgiven.

There are four sections to the memorial; the outdoor exhibition, the mass burial site, the remaining bones of the victims and the exhibition hall of photographs and historical documents. At the front gate of the memorial grounds, we passed a large cross with the date of the massacre "1937.12.13–1938.1" and a large bell named the Peace Bell, representing the hope of the Nanjing people for a more peaceful future. Further on, we walked along an extremely large broken wall with a huge hole in it obviously caused by a bullet shot, as well as a larger-than-life skull lying close by. The wall also had the number "300,000" etched on it, a constant reminder to the number of people viciously murdered in the massacre. Moving onwards from the wall, we passed a walkway filled with the foot and hand prints of the survivors of the Nanjing holocaust, who have each shared their experiences and stories of survival with the rest of the world.

From there, we walked on into the mass burial ground of the victims of the massacre. The burial ground is a large open space filled with flower stones, as well as a dying tree and a large statue of a mother looking for her family. This is to give the whole burial ground a feeling of depression and sadness. The bones buried here have been excavated from a mass grave in Jiangdongmen known as the "pit of tens of thousand bodies." A long pathway through this vast open space lead us to a large glass case displaying the remaining bones of several victims, all labeled with numbers and details of the bones and the wounds inflicted upon them were explicitly described. Gun shot wounds through the head, nail penetration into the skull of a woman, decapitation of a child… It was intense and heartlessly cruel.

Moving on, we entered into the exhibition hall where brutal and horrendous pictures of the Nanjing war crimes were displayed. The photographs and documents displayed here stands proof to the crimes the invading troops committed… from the attack on Shanghai to Nanjing, the struggle and oppression, and the controversial war trial. A mixture of emotions just overwhelmed me throughout the visit: sadness, shock, disgust, fury… and finally, relief (that all this has come to an end).

Swarms of students were visiting the memorial while we were there, a sign that Nanjing never wants their future generations to forget that fateful 6 weeks. From December 13 to January every year, prayers are held at the memorial, and an alarm will ring every half an hour from 7:30am till dusk.

A large banner at the entrance says, "Experiences of the past, if not forgotten, are a guide for the future." I guess the Nanjing people will never let the world forget.

Close

Located at the east of Nanjing town, Zijin Shan (Purple Gold Mountain) serves as a park for the locals, especially during the summer. Locals spend their weekends here, gathering with family and friends with a little picnic. However, this same place serves a different purpose…Read More

Located at the east of Nanjing town, Zijin Shan (Purple Gold Mountain) serves as a park for the locals, especially during the summer. Locals spend their weekends here, gathering with family and friends with a little picnic. However, this same place serves a different purpose to tourists.

Most of us visit Zijin Shan to see three main sights located here:
1. Lingu Si (Linggu Temple)
2. Zhongshan Ling (Dr Sun Yat-sen Mauseleum)
3. Ming Xiaoling (Ming Tomb)

I went to Zjin Shan after spending half a day at the Nanjing Massacre Memorial and Museum. Knowing that I did not have much time to cover all three of them, I decided to just concentrate on Lingu Si and Zhongshan Ling.

Linggu Si I started my journey from Linggu Si, which is located at the eastern side of the hill, farthest from the town, so that I could visit Zhongshan Ling after that without back tracking on the same road.

There are two main architectures here in Linggu Si, namely the Beamless Hall and the Linggu Pagoda. Beamless hall is an unusual construction that isn’t built with any beams, but is only made of five columns. The hall was originally used to display Buddhist statues, but it is only an exhibition hall today, displaying mannequins of important Chinese heroes with their history.

Walk east when you come out of the Beamless Hall, and you will see the 60m and nine-storey high Linggu Temple. Climb up to the top and you will be able to enjoy great views of the surrounding countryside and the city. There is also a shrine in the temple containing the skull of the Chinese monk who went to India to collect the Buddhist scriptures.

I then took a very slow walk to the main entrance and caught a tourist mini-train to the nearby Zhongshan Ling at RMB3.

Opening hours: 8am to 5pm daily
Entrance Fee: RMB15

Zhongshan Ling If you have traveled around China long enough, you will realized that most of the cities in China have a Zhongshan Lu, a Zhongshan Park, a Sun Zhingshan Museum…This is no exception in Nanjing. However, Zhongshan Ling in Nanjing is something that is more extraordinary because this is where Dr. Sun Yat-sen’s mausoleum is, and, of course, there is the ONLY one in the world.

Located at the center of Zijin Shan (Purple Gold Mountain), Zhongshan Ling is very famous for its marble staircase up to the green hill. However, a slow walk up the steps is not too difficult, as the fresh air around gives you a peace of mind.

The first pit stop of the walk is the Memorial Hall where you can a white statue of Dr Sun Yat-sen sitting elegantly. The second pit stop is where the tomb itself, which is striking. The blue and white tiles in the Mausoleum symbolize the Kuomintang flag and the wall are decorated with "The Guidelines for Establishing a Nation," written by Dr Sun himself. The tomb is covered by a white sleeping statue of the revolutionary hero.

As you finish with the tomb, take a few steps to the back of the tomb. There is a small outdoor display hall demonstrating the construction and architecture of the entire place with some history on how Dr Sun Yat-sen was unearthed in Beijing and delivered here.

Opening hours: 6:30am –to 6:30pm daily
Entrance Fee: RMB40

Close

As our tour wound around the floors of the building, we were surprised at what we found on the top floor! Floor two had a display of old brocade made in years past, plus a couple of emperor's robes. Floor three was a…Read More

As our tour wound around the floors of the building, we were surprised at what we found on the top floor! Floor two had a display of old brocade made in years past, plus a couple of emperor's robes. Floor three was a dusty old room, with items for sale (over-priced, and obviously old ... been there a while). We didn't buy anything. The fourth floor was interesting...there they had built a modern-type catwalk and had several fancy outfits on display! We were allowed to try on items in this room. Unfortunately, with my western size body, I only fit in their hats!Close

Just a few more shots of the hats. There were some really unusual pieces in this collection! We did have a lot of fun trying them all on!…Read More

Just a few more shots of the hats. There were some really unusual pieces in this collection! We did have a lot of fun trying them all on!Close