Today we started our day from the hotel, eating a leisurely breakfast and departing at 9 AM. We drove to the foot of Nanjing’s highest mountain range, and gazed up at the shrine high above us. We walked up a long wooded path and up a wide staircase before turning around and looking down at the forest. Nanjing is incredibly green, and as we later learned, it has lower annual temperatures due to this. However, it was particularly hot today.
So, after cooling off with a popsicle or two, we entered the mausoleum atop the peak, the focus of the entire tourist site. It houses the grave of Dr. Sun, who can be called the “Abe Lincoln” of China. He led the revolution against the dynasty and pushed the creation of a republic. His mission was to secure power for the people, and he succeeded. China became a republic at the turn of the 20th century. Therefore, his burial chamber was just as impressive as his resumé. It was a decorated building with high ceilings, sporting vivid wooden furniture and bold colors on the ceiling. No talking photos were allowed. After taking it all in, we headed back down, and off to lunch where enjoyed a spread of various soups!
Right after lunch, we went to the Nanjing National Museum. There we saw many different aspects of Nanjing’s history, dating back to the era of dinosaurs. It then progressed into more recent topics, such as early human civilization and what their culture looked like, including pottery, musical instruments, weaponry, and other things.
The museum then detailed the Han Dynasty and Legends of the Kingdoms, where a great deal of artifacts were presented. Not only that, but there were many small exhibits as well, including DNA records and 1900s Nanjing history.
After we finished looking at the exhibits, we shopped for a bit in multiple stores right outside the museum. After we left the museum, we drove to visit the John Rabe and International Society Zone memorial. The building first detailed the different attributes of John Rabe’s life, such as how he helped Nanjing during the Nanjing massacre, and how he affected the world as a whole because of his help.
The building then chronicled the political relations between Germany and China after the massacre. After that, we left to go to the Chinese bookstore Librairie Avant-Garde. All the books in the store were of reasonable price, but were written completely in Chinese. It was thrilling to be surrounded by so much foreign literature, whether we could understand the writing or not. For dinner, we went to a restaurant for a wonderful selection of dumplings, chicken, and pumpkin. We all agreed that it was the best meal we’ve had so far in Nanjing. After we finished dinner, we returned to our hotel to relax a little before calling it an early night. We have to take the train to Shanghai tomorrow morning!
— Jackson and Marcus