Adventurasia Community

(Written back around summer 2002)

On Day 6 of the tour we went to Nanjing, a place perhaps better known for the Nanjing Massacre which took place in 1937 and as many as 300,000 people may have died under Japan’s assault. Unfortunately our tour specialist for Nanjing showed a bit of hatred for the Japanese because of this war atrocity - and even though several of us wanted to see the Nanjing Massacre Memorial Hall, she refused. (In my opinion) it’s unfortunate that she would continue to carry this incident from almost 70 years ago as a present day grudge.

For lunch we enjoyed the local delicacy - Salted Duck.

After lunch, we visited the Linggu Temple perhaps best known for the Beamless Hall which is built completely from bricks.

Afterwards we walked along a pathway known as the Sacred Avenue which leads up to the Mingxiao Ling Tomb. According to one of the signs, the Sacred Avenue of Mingxiao Ling Tomb is divided into two sections. The first half is called Shixiang Road, which stretches 618 metres on a wavy terrain. It is lined with 6 kinds of stone animals including: the lion, Xiezhi camel (a mythical animal which resembles a unicorn), elephant, qilin (a mythical animal with a scales on its body, a single horn, a cow’s tail and hooves) and the horse. Each has two pairs, one of which is crouching and the other standing. The second half is the 250-metre long Wengzheng Road. A couple of ornamental columns and two couples of ministers and generals respectively are put along the road. It leads directly to the Lingxing Gate which has long been destroyed. The vividly shaped stone sculptures display outstanding craftmanship of the Ming Dynasty.

Afterwards we went to the Sun Yat Sen Mausoleum. The Mausoleum was built in commemoration of Dr. Sun Yat-Sen the great forerunner of the modern Chinse democratic revolution. Construction was started in 1926 and was completed in 1929. Dr. Sun Yat Sen’s remains were buried here on June 1st 1929.

The mausoleum is situated at the southern slope of the Zhongshan Mountain with a total area of 133 hectares. The layout is bell-shaped and was designed by a famous architect named Lu Yanzhi.

The tomb itself is quite a climb under the sweltering sun. A huge staircase with a length of 700 metres and a vertical height of 70 metres leads to the tomb. There are a total of 392 ascending steps with 10 landings in total. The stones that make the steps come from Fujian, Beijing, Suzhou, Qindao and Hong Kong. rn

The last stop before dinner was the Nanjing Museum which seems to specialize in Jade. (Or at least that’s what the tour guide/museum curator decided to show us).

As far I’m aware, none of us ate any fried dough sticks, sesame cakes or glutinous rice while we were here.

Filed under: China