Why Nanjing:
Located just 1.5 hours from Shanghai by high-speed rail, Nanjing (population 10 million) is one of China’s most important cities. It has been a capital of China on an off from the 3rd century all the way up to the mid-20thcentury. Having already been to Suzhou and Hangzhou, I decided to visit Nanjing as my final major day trip of my week in Shanghai.
March 26, 2024: Nanjing
Unlike previous day trips, I purchased my outbound train ticket ahead of time to ensure I would have enough time to see everything. The train left at 6:41 from Hongqiao Station. I tried to take the subway to Hongqiao Station but once on the platform I discovered that the first subway was not until 6:00 which would cause me to miss the train. So instead, I got a Didi (China’s main rideshare company) which is imbedded into the Alipay app.
Once at Hongqiao, I easily made the train. The journey took 1 hour 30 minutes to reach Nanjing South Station. Like in other Chinese cities, the train stations are perfectly connected to the subway line. I took the subway for about 30 minutes into the city. For some reason, the English voice on the subway had an upper Midwestern female accent which reminded me of my cousins in Chicago. My arrival corresponded with the morning rush and I was in awe of the sea of people moving through the subway stations.
My first stop was the Memorial Hall of the Victims in Nanjing Massacre by Japanese Invaders. This long-named museum is China’s memorial to the Nanjing Massacre also known as the Rape of Nanjing which occurred in late 1937-early 1938 during the Sino-Japanese War just prior to the start of World War II (which is probably why nobody knows about it).
At that time, China was a republic and Nanjing was its capital. Japan was attempting to conquer China (and eventually the rest of Asia). After capturing Shanghai, the Japanese brutally pressed inland where they massacred entire villages for no reason and had contests to see which soldier could bayoneted the most civilians.
The Chinese government withdrew most its forces and left the city in the care of an international committee of Western businessmen (interestingly a combination of Americans, British and Nazis – if you want an interesting story, look up John Rabe). The government also told the civilians of Nanjing – then about 1 million – to stay put within the Ming Dynasty walls.
After a fierce battle, Japan took the city and spent the next six weeks pillaging, raping, and killing as many people as they could. The estimates range but between 50,000-300,000 Chinese were murdered (200,000 is the international consensus number but the museum really tried to drill in the number 300,000). Additionally, 20,000 women were raped. Eventually the Japanese declared that law and order was restored.
After the war, an international tribunal was set up and prosecuted some Japanese soldiers, but their leader, a member of the Imperial family, was granted immunity and never prosecuted.
The government of Japan has refused to acknowledge or apologize for the massacre. In 1995, a prime minister anecdotally referenced mistakes in Japan’s belligerence but did not officially apologize for the massacre. This lack of recognition and apology is a major diplomatic wedge between the two countries. I heard anecdotally that Japanese businessmen and tourists are wary of coming to Nanjing for this reason.
The memorial was expertly done and reminded me of Holocaust museums but more gruesome. In addition to photos of the massacre taken by Japanese war photographers, video testimonies from survivors and items of the deceased, the museum contains the “Pit of Ten Thousand Corpses, a mass grave where hundreds of dead bodies (now skeletons) are visible.
The memorial then turned into a museum about World War II. As previously mentioned, Japan started its attempt to conquer China in the 1937. At the time, China was engaged in its own civil war between the Nationalist government run by Chiang Kai-Shek and the Communists run by Mao Zedong. However, the two sides paused their war to fight the Japanese who were deemed the greater enemy. The two leaders even toasted to the end of World War II together in Chongqing in 1945.
The museum, mostly in Chinese, told a side of World War II that I did not know about. In the west, it was always the War in Europe and the War in the Pacific. But here, I heard the first mention of a third theater of war: the Chinese Theater. I was also surprised by how positively viewed the Nationalist government (co-defenders of the Chinese people) and the US (co-defenders against fascism).
I then took the subway across town to reach the Zhongshan (Purple) Mountain Park, which contains numerous important sights. The sights are connected by a series of busses, which unfortunately required a Chinese ID to register so I had to walk despite my legs hurting from the past 3 days.
My first stop was the tomb of the first Ming emperor (1328-1398) which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Construction of the tomb involved 100,000 workers with 5,000 soldiers to guard them.
To reach the tomb, I first had to walk 1.8 kilometers down the Sacred Way walkway guarded with ancient statues.
Then I passed through another 800 meters of gates and pathways before reaching the main mausoleum building itself. Strangely inside that building is a museum with a VR experience for an extra charge.
The actual tomb is located somewhere in the 400-meter-wide walled burial mound located behind the mausoleum. The mound is unexcavated, and the body’s exact location is still unknown to this day. To ensure the tomb would not be looted, 13 identical funeral processions took place to different burial sites on the mound. At the time of its original construction, the entire tomb complex was surrounded by a 22-kilometer-long wall.
Two kilometers from the Ming Emperor’s tomb is the mausoleum of Sun Yat-Sen. Sun Yat-Sen was the first provisional president of the Republic of China, the government that ruled China after the overthrow of the Qing Emperor in 1911. He also was the founder of the Kuomintang, the Nationalist Party which now rules Taiwan. Yat-Sen died in 1925 before the onset of the Chinese Civil War. Despite having been a strong proponent of democracy, he is still a highly revered figure in China. In Taiwan, he is considered the father of their country.
Like the Ming Emperor’s tomb, Sun Yat-Sen’s tomb had an unbelievably long entryway which involved climbing 400 meters of stairs. While entry was free, I still needed to register for a ticket which had to be done at a special ticket office for foreigners. After a ticket check and security check, I had to climb another 400 meters of stairs to reach the actual mausoleum. Hilariously, the site had not one but two KFCs.
Once at the top, I was able to enter the mausoleum itself. Photos were not allowed inside but the interior had a large statue of Dr. Yat-Sen underneath a mosaic ceiling containing the flag of Kuomintang aka the current flag of Taiwan. The body is in a smaller back room not open to the public.
Thus far in my journey in China, I have not had many interactions with locals. However, both here and in the Ming tomb, I was constantly asked to take photos with people. While I think I am good looking, my guess is that these domestic tourism attractions attract people from rural areas of China where white people don’t visit, thus making me a curiosity.
One boy walked communicated with me via a translation app. He said that China welcomes foreigners with open arms. After taking a photo with me, he ran away. I later ran into him again where he purchased my admission ticket to a garden. Then, he asked for my WeChat number and immediately ran away again. He never texted me.
By this point, my legs were throbbing in pain. Again, I tried to take a bus down the mountain, but because I did not have a Chinese ID, I could not set up the account to pay the 10 yuan (just over $1). The ticket taker laughed at me. People with even the slightest bit of power in China seem to really take their jobs seriously.
Instead, I walked the 45 minutes down the mountain to reach the subway. I then realized that my next destination was just another 15 minutes away and annoying halfway to the next subway station, which made taking the subway not helpful. So begrudgingly I walked it.
My walk took me through the ancient Ming Dynasty walls of Nanjing. While most Chinese cities demolished their walls during the Cultural Revolution, Nanjing’s walls remained. The walls are 60 kilometers (37 miles) long making them the longest and largest city wall in the world.
Eventually, I made it to the Nanjing Museum. Founded in 1933 by the Kuomintang, much of its collection was taken to Taiwan after the Chinese Civil War. Since then, it was taken over by the central government and is one of the largest museums in China.
The museum contains a treasure trove of artifacts and art from throughout China’s history. The most impressive item was a jade burial suit.
In the basement of the newest annex, there was an interesting “streets of yesteryear” showing what Nanjing looked like in the Republic of China period. The fake street had shops selling souvenirs and food. I love the aesthetic from this era.
It was only about 15:00 so I walked over to the Presidential Palace, the Republic of China’s seat of government. It was here that Sun Yat-Sen and later Chiang Kai-Shek had their offices. The Presidential Palace was actually a huge walled complex containing multiple government office buildings, reception rooms, residences and even a temple. I was surprised by the size of the complex. 99% of the visitors made a beeline to snap a photo of Chiang Kai-Shek’s second story office. The rest of the complex was relatively peaceful.
I walked another 15 minutes into the modern central business district of Nanjing. Here, I was surrounded by endless skyscrapers. I wandered into a 7-story luxury shopping mall called Del Plaza. The mall had truly every luxury store you could imagine.
On the sixth floor, I got another matcha soft serve and then booked my train back. This one left from old central Nanjing Station which was far smaller than Nanjing South. I returned to Shanghai at 19:00. I walked a total of 42,000 steps.
Final Thoughts:
Nanjing is fantastic and was probably my favorite of the three Shanghai day trips! The city has so much to see. The sights include both ancient sights such as the Ming tombs and walls as well as 20th century sights such as the Massacre memorial and the tomb of Sun Yat-Sen. With one day, I was not able to see it all. I really wish I had a second day to see some of the newer temples build on the southwest side of the city and had time to really explore the wall. Two days is the optimal amount of time to spend here.
While logistics and the desire to sightsee prevented me from trying the local food, I have heard good things.
Logistically, the city is easy to navigate. The subway system is good, and enough signs are in English. The one frustrating thing was the shuttle buses on Purple Mountain.
Given Nanjing’s location along the Shanghai-Beijing train line, it naturally fits into many China itineraries.
Leave a Reply