Nanjing Things to Do

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Yuejiang Temple was quite magnificent. We walked to it after walking on the Nanjing Bridge.

The temple is part of the complex known as Yuejiang Tower Scenic spot and includes the temple itself, Wanxian pavilion and other historical remains.The temple can be reached by using the path laid out by the park or by walking along the city wall.

The temple itself is very different from others we visited in China in that you could enter the building, climb and access all the floors. On each floor was a different exhibit. On the first floor were portraits of all the Ming Emperors. On the second floor was a naval exhibit which we found quite bizarre and totally out of context and could only explain it in terms of Nanjing being a port.

The ceiling is very spectacular - see photo.

Open 8:00-17:00pm
Entry cost:30 Yuan

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Nanjing Yangtze River Bridge is famous in that it is the longest bridge in the world with dual functions of being a highway and railway.

Get a taxi to take you to the bottom of the bridge at the Park of Nanjing and then proceed to walk up the bridge. It is very interesting just observing the sights of markets, fishermen, market gardeners, apartments, hovels, even thousands of workers (possibly prisoners)working on the railway track near the bridge.

Once you get to the top of the bridge there are two lots of magnificent monuments dedicated to the workers. As well you get a magnificent vista of the Yangtze river.
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This is the monument that most people who visit Nanjing flock to see.

Like many other tourist sights there is a long walk to the actual monument. In this case it is a long boulevard and then a flight of steps. Once you get to the top there is Sun Yat Sen’s statue.

The actual layout of the mausoleum is 1½ km in area and is regarded with admiration by the Chinese people. There was a competition to select who would design the site and the plan that won was in the shape of a bell. Behind the statue is an area which charts the progress of the mausoleum from the announcement of the competition to the completion of the building.

Tickets for entry to Dr Sun Yat Sen’s mausoleum and Linggu Temple Scenic spot 80 Yuan.

Zhongshan Mountain National Park
This is actually a huge area which incorporates Dr Sun Yat Sen’s Mausoleum, the tomb of the Ming Dynasty, the Sacred Path, fragrant Plum Blossom Hill, Plum Blossom Valley and Linggu Temple. There also appears to be a sight seeing cableway,slide-way recreation park, astronomical observatory and an underwater world - none of which we visited!!

We spent about half a day in this park area and only managed to see three things. You could easily take a picnic lunch and spend a whole day exploring the various sites.

Signage of the site is very good and is in English and Chinese. There are small buses that ferry people from one area of the park to the other.

You will need to buy an all inclusive ticket to see all the sites to make use of this service.
80 Yuan to see Dr Sun Yat Sen's Mausoleum
70 Yuan to see Xiaoling Tomb

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This is a rather nice walk you can do in Zhongshan Mountain National Path. Along the way there are various stone animals such as camels, elephants,Qilin, horses and of course lions.
Further along the path is lined with statues of civil and military officials.

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The Ming Tomb is part of a larger tourist site known as Zhongshan Mountain National Park that includes a number of different parks, walks and monuments. The Ming Tomb is the tomb of Zhu Yuanzhang, the first emperor of the Ming dynasty. He was buried here in 1398.

There are a number of buildings associated with the tomb including Xiama Water Bridge, Big Golden Gate, Square City,Golden Water Bridge, Dajinmen gate, Wenwu Gate, Sifangcheng pavilion, Xiaoling Palace, Rectangular Citadel, Ming Tower and Treasure Mound. Make sure that you get a tourist map which does show you where everything is but unfortunately little else.
For this reason the significance of the various buildings "escaped" me but it was interesting to walk along the Sacred Avenue with its Stone Sculptures and meander through the various gates and "pavillions"

I am putting this in as things to do rather than a general tip so people actually see this. I only discovered this by accident. I just thought the cards in the hotel displays were to indicate tourist sites you should see.

Well, the ones in our Nanjing Hotel were actually both! They provided information on the tourist site and also gave us a discount when we presented them at the ticket office at the specific tourist site ( I showed it at the tourist site ticket office to indicate which place we wanted to visit and was rewarded with 5 Yuan off!!) : )

Why not ask?

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Nanjing Museum is quite a well known museum particularly for its exhibit of jade armour. The museum itself is very well organised.Displays of artefacts are professionally mounted and explanations are in English and Chinese.

The museum is well worth a visit.

Cost of entry: 20 Yuan

Open 9:00-16:30pm