Nanjing Things to Do

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Linggu Pagoda was built in 1929 to memorize those soldiers sacrificed in the War of the Northern Expedition (1926-1927). The 9 storey pagoda stands 60.5 meters high. Speeches made by Dr. Sun Yat-Sen and epigraphs of Chiang Kai-Shek were inscribed on the tower.

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Beamless Hall also known as Wuliang Hall, was constructed in 1381, and is 22-meters-high and 53.8-meter- wide. The hall enjoys high reputation for its special architectural techniques. It has three archways on the front and rear sides respectively. The structure was built with bricks from the bottom to the top entirely, without a piece of wood or a single nail. Thus it was called Wuliang Hall, since Wuliang means beamless. It happens that the hall originally enshrined Amitayus (Buddha of Infinite Life) whose Chinese name pronounces the same with Wuliang. In 1928, the hall was turned into the memorial hall of soldiers sacrificed in the War of the Northern Expedition (1926-1927). More than 30,000 soldiers were enshrined.

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The temple was first built in 515 under the reign of the Liang Dynasty (502-557). It used to lie at the northeast foot of the Purple Mountains where the Ming Xiaoling Mausoleum is now located, since Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang chose the place to be his mausoleum and then the temple was moved to the present place. The temple was named by Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang himself. It used to be large and covered an area of over 300,000 square metres. Later it was destroyed in warfare under the reign of Emperor Xianfeng and rebuilt under the reign of Emperor Tongzhi in the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). The approach to the temple features a wonderful hall known as the Beamless Hall built without a piece of wood or a single nail. The temple itself is fairly unremarkable and there seemed to be both construction and deconstruction going on when I was there. It's the Linggu Pagoda that draws visitors as it's possible to climb for great views.

Admission: Y80 for Dr Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum & Linggu Temple, Y70 for Ming Tomb, Y140 for combo ticket.

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The Mausoleum of Dr Sun Yat-sen is situated in the middle of the Purple Mountains for the father of the Republic of China who was buried here on June 1, 1929. Construction of the tomb started in January of 1926 and was finished in the spring of 1929. The actual tomb building is more than 700 hundred meters away from the archway, which is the entrance of the mausoleum. There is a three-tier stone stand on which a huge bronze ding, an ancient Chinese vessel symbolizing power, perches. Beyond the entrance archway is the 480-meter-long and 50-meter-wide stairway which has some 392 stairs (take your time to climb these!). At the end of the stairway is a gate which is 16 meters high and 27 meters wide. The tri-arched marble gate is inscribed with four Chinese characters written by Dr. Sun, "Tian Xia Wei Gong" which means "What is under heaven is for all". Inside the gate there is a pavilion in which a 9-meter-high stele is set, which is a memorial monument set by the Kuomintang (KMT). A few stairs up is the sacrificial hall and the vault in which his coffin rests. The ceiling displays the flag of the KMT.

Admission: Y80 for Dr Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum & Linggu Temple, Y70 for Ming Tomb, Y140 for combo ticket.

This 57.5 metre long, 26 metre, single-arch bridge lies in front of the Rectangular Citadel & Ming Tower. After Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang died, his coffin was carried across the bridge to be buried in the small hill behind the tower.

The so-called Treasure Mound is 325m to 400m in diameter at the bottom and lies behind the imposing Rectangular Citadel & Ming Tower. It was originally a small hill called Dulongfu (single dragon mound) and is where the tomb of Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang and his wide Empress Ma are buried.

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The Ming Tower is built on top of the Rectangular Citadel and is the commanding building of the Ming Tomb. There are three arched doors in its southern wall and one in each of the other three walls. The inside floor is paved with square bricks. It originally had a yellow glazed double-eaved roof which was destroyed during the reign of Qing Emperor Xianfeng.

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The original Sacrificial Hall was built in 1383 for the memorial tablets of Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang. It was a huge wooden structure with 9 bays in width and 5 deep with 56 stone column bases which still exist today. This building was destroyed by war in 1853 and this building was then built in its place.