Crowne Plaza Nanjing

Map of Zhongshan (Purple Mountain) Scenic Area

by Willettsworld

This is the best map I've found of the Zhongshan (Purple Mountain) Scenic Area. It's still hard to see the small print but you get a good idea as to what to see. You can pick up a card map of the scenic area when you visit.

http://www.zschina.org/social/images/3-1.jpg

Fuzi Temple District

by chatterley

At night, we visited the Fuzi Temple (Fuzi Miao) District for shopping. The Fuzi Temple is not really a temple for praying, but rather an area where the ancient Chinese government used to conduct imperial examinations for scholars. The examination would last for about 8 full days, during which the scholars had to eat, sleep etc at their exam venue. Some parents would accompany their child to the exam, and the more entrepreneurial ones hit on the idea of bringing local products from their hometown to sell in the capital city while waiting for their son to finish the exam. Soon, others followed suit, and hundreds of years later, this area is now a shopping district.

The shops sell a variety of items, eg. clothing, books, foodstuff etc. I bought a few sweaters here. The prices of goods here are cheaper than what you find in Shanghai, but the clothes might not be as trendy.

Plum Blossoms Hill

by marsistanbul

With an ingenious,primitive,simple and elegant design,Plum Blossom-viewing veranda was built in 1947 under the order of Sun Ke.The site used to be the graveyard of Wang Jingwei,a big traitor to China.In january 1946,the tomb was expladed and varenda was built here for visitors to rest and enjoy a distant view of plum blossoms.The veranda itself has also become a scenic spot in the plum blossom hill even since the tablet and the couplet of the veranda were both inscribed by Sun Ke,the initiator of the building and son of Dr.Sun Yat-sen.

D_major's new Nanjing Page

by D_major

"Nanjing Introduction"

Nanjing (meaning southern capital) is one of the six ancient capitals of China, situated at the south bank of the lower reaches of the Yangtze River. Today, Nanjing is the capital of Jiangsu province and covers an area of 860 square kilometers with a population of more than 5 million.

Various dynasties have made Nanjing their base. The most famous of these periods is when Nanjing was the capital of China; during the Ming Dynasty between 1368 and 1644 and the establishment of the People's Republic of China in the early 20th Century. Many of the city's historical sites are date back to these periods and Sun Yatsen's Mausoleum and the Ming Tombs are examples of the wealth of culture existing in this ancient city.

Today, the city is renowned for being an educational and cultural center, with a large student (foreign and native Chinese) population. Nanjing is a pretty place, with tree- lined streets, hills and lakes, making the intense heat of east China's summers more bearable. The pace of life here is slower than many other Chinese cities and Nanjing seems quite conservative in comparison to the brash modernity of neighboring Shanghai. Indeed the local's mantra "man zou" (go slow) is a reflection of the cautious and reserved attitude of many of the city's residents.

Like many Chinese cities however, the charm of this place is being threatened. The developers have moved in and the old streets and classical buildings are being torn apart to make way for expressways and skyscrapers.

For the time being, Nanjing remains a charming city to spend a few days in, absorbing some history and relaxing in the laid back atmosphere before it disappears altogether.