Nanjing – one of the four great ancient capitals of China

The Ming Emperors ruled all of China for the first time from Nanjing – it was the centre of power for the rebel Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and it was home to the nationalist Kuomintang, led by Chiang Kai Shek, during the Chinese civil war.  It suffered terribly in the war with Japan and amongst all the historical monuments, one of the most moving museums is dedicated to the memory of 300,000 people killed by the Japanese in the Nanjing Massacre.

It’s a huge, modern city with world class science and natural sciences – but the historic centre is much as it has always been.  Our little hotel was once a cinema with a pretty roof-top garden and a view over the “horses head” roofs of the old town.  We were right next door to the Confucius Temple and just along from the Chaotian Palace.  The entrance to the latter has been turned into a slide for children of all ages, over the years

Although Nanjing is and inland city – it is connected to the sea by the Yangtze river and the great Admiral Zheng He was once the defender of Nanjing; he built many of the beautiful ships of the Ming Treasure Fleet here.

When houses were built, in ancient times, it was typical to “sign” the bricks with the person and place they were made.  Some, like the top row below, were embossed with more elaborate designs.

I was fascinated by these huge, primitive hinges, for rotating and opening the grand and heavy temple doors.

I loved this little Ming Dynasty swiss-army-knife, with four special little tools which slot back within the golden tube.  And this carved amber ….

This reminded me of the Bayeux tapestry and was painted about the same time that the tapestry was stitched...

On the Purple Mountain – just outside of the city – there are hugely important memorials to the first Ming Emperor and to Sun Yat Sen, founding father of the Republic of China.  One of the most wonderful buildings was this “beamless” hall, with a ceiling made of brilliantly positioned bricks, which hold the ceiling up without any wooden struts or supports. 

We’re in the week running up to the huge May Day holiday in China and so the mountain was really busy – but all very relaxed and easy – with a slot machine providing guides in any language you fancy.

The Ming Emperor, Zhu Yuanzhang, or the Hongwu emperor was the one who built the incredible city walls, which include a “trapping gate” on the southern aspect.  With four gates and three courtyards between the outside world and the city of Nanjing, attackers would rush in through the outer gate and find themselves trapped in a closed courtyard, to be annihilated by the defending army ….

The memorial hall of the victims in the Nanjing massacre by the Japanese invaders is in downtown, Nanjing, at one of the sites where thousands of bodies were buried.  It is a beautiful building and tells the story of the awful events with personal accounts and photos from both sides of the battle lines.  The books below line the entrance hall, one for every family affected.  Where every member of the family was killed, the title is in black.  If any survived, the title is in blue – but that was rare.  It’s a profoundly shocking story, which the Japanese seem not to acknowledge or take accountability for.

To lighten the mood, we popped into the Imperial Examination museum on our way back to the hotel.  For hundreds of years, young men moved into these little cubicles for a nine day examination on the Confucian principles, hoping for fame and fortune in the Chinese administration.  The fabulous little silk lantern of Confucius is left over from the Spring Festival and has not yet been spoilt by the rain and the wind.