South Nanjing Travel Video Guide

South Nanjing Travel Itinerary

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An excellent place to see fortifications is at Zhonghua Men in the far south, now bereft of its wall and isolated in the middle of a traffic island, just inside the river moat on the bus #16 route from Xinjiekou and Gulou. This colossal gate actually comprises four gates, one inside another, and its seven enclosures were designed to hold three thousand men in case of enemy attack, making it one of the biggest of its kind in China. Today you can walk through the central archway and climb up two levels, passing arched recesses which are used for displays and snack stalls and are beautifully cool in summer. Up above, there's a tremendous view of the gates with the city spread out beyond.

The road south, across the Qinhuai River, between Zhonghua Men and Yuhuatai Park, is an interesting stretch. It has two-storey wooden-fronted houses, many with balconies above, while below are small shops and workshops. The all-purpose trees lining the pavement provide shade as well as room to hang birdcages, pot plants and laundry.

Not far beyond, the road reaches a small hill, now a park known as Yuhuatai (daily 6am-6.45pm; Y8). In legend it was here that a fifth-century Buddhist monk delivered sermons so moving that flowers rained down from the sky upon him. You still see Chinese tourists grubbing around here for the multi-coloured stones called Yuhuashi (Rain Flower Pebbles), associated with the legend. Sadly, however, the hill also has other very much less pleasant connotations. After 1927 it was used as an execution ground, and the Guomindang is said to have murdered vast numbers of people here. The spot is now marked by a Martyrs' Memorial , a

colossal composite of nine thirty-metre-high figures, well worth seeing as a prime example of gigantic Chinese Socialist Realism. The park itself is pleasantly laid out on a slope thickly forested with pine trees, where you can witness locals giving their cagebirds an airing in the cool of the morning, while they gossip and play cards underneath. You can climb the four-storey pagoda on the hillock behind the memorial for excellent views of Nanjing, despite the persistent pollution, to the north.

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