Stepping Back: Nanjing

China is a country with a long and rich history. Through numerous emperors and dynasty’s it has changed and evolved and left pieces of its history for us to see. Most everyone knows about the famous city of Beijing (or North Capitol as its name means), but not as many people know about Nanjing: the southern capitol. Nanjing is known as one of the “four great ancient capitols” of China. It also is one of the only cities with a city wall that is still intact. Our little city of Changzhou is set halfway between Shanghai and Nanjing about a two-hour slow train ride from both. Being so close meant that we were able to go see the city on a normal weekend.

We left on a Friday afternoon after we were all finished teaching our classes. It was a pretty uneventful ride and it wasn’t long before we had arrived in the city. Now where I’m living the sun sets by about 5:30, so by the time we got to Nanjing it was already dark. At the train station we hopped on the metro and took it out towards our hostel. When we got out of the station however, we were very confused. We couldn’t find a bus stop anywhere to catch our ride to the hostel and we weren’t entirely positive which way to go. It didn’t help that creepy taxi guys kept surrounding us anytime we stopped for even a moment. We wandered up and down the road in front of the station for a little bit before finally spotting a passing bus that showed us where the bus stop was.

Luckily another group who had been there previously told us how to recognize our stop because the bus we got on didn’t have the customary intercom overhead announcing the names of the stops. Our hostel was inside of a gated business area. We got through the gate and then had no idea where to go. It was a sea of buildings and it was dark and the signs were all in Chinese and we simply had no idea how to get to the hostel. We wandered between the buildings for awhile and even went inside one of the hotels and asked if they knew where it was. They looked at us like we were crazy and then offered us a room in their place.

At one point Dayna pointed down a shady looking alley and said that she felt that we should go that way. It didn’t look promising but we didn’t have many options. As we rounded the corner at the other end of it we saw a bright sign with the name of our hostel on it and we all cheered and hugged Dayna. The first thing we noticed as we got closer was the noise. There was a party going on at the bar attached to our hostel and unbeknownst to us we had inadvertently come in the back entrance and so had to wend our way past the throngs of dancing people to go check in.

(Our Hostel)

By the time we got our rooms it was very late at night so we decided to turn in so we could be awake and ready to explore the town the next day. Before hitting the sack however, Ashley and I went over to the reception area to see if we could get directions to the things we wanted to see the next day. We ended up being introduced to this one Chinese guy who was excellent at English who told us all about which buses to take where, and what things we should see. He was a super cool guy and very helpful.

(Outside patio of our hostel)

The next morning we got ready nice and early and headed out onto the streets. It was a little rainy, but we weren’t going to let that get in our way. Just down the road from our hostel was our first stop: the Zhongua gate. Remember when I told you that Nanjing was one of the only cities with an intact city wall? Well Zhongua gate was the biggest and most famous gate in that wall.

The first thing you see as you approach from the inside is this huge expanse of wall reaching for what seems like forever to each side. Running along the base is a large canal. As we reached the base and entered the gate we had to pass through two huge brass studded doors.

Each door has 81 brass studs since 9 is considered a lucky number and so 9X9 is even luckier. After walking through a long corridor you find yourself in the first of three courtyards inside the gate. Here we saw some big metal statues of warriors and wise-men.

This was the courtyard with steps leading up onto the top of the gate and the city wall. At the top of the gate you could look out over the city of Nanjing, and in my mind I tried to imagine standing atop that gate, watching an army advancing towards me in the distance. It was a surreal feeling.

There were several large grottos in the wall where displays had been set up. There were a couple scale models of the wall, shrines honoring old generals, and paintings of famous battle scenes. They also had some of the original bricks on display that still had the visible engravings of the signatures of where they were made.

After exploring all around the gate we set out to walk along the wall. The first section we walked across was clearly restored, but a little ways down you were able to walk along some unrestored portions. It was unlike anything I had seen before.

After heading back to the gate we went back down into the first courtyard and then went to explore the other two. The second courtyard was home to a tree garden. Basically they looked like Bonsai trees, but that’s a Japanese term and I don’t know what they’re called here ha-ha.We got to watch one man working on the trees which was pretty sweet.

In the third courtyard we found a glorious sight: an archery field! It was 10 Yuan for six arrows and a few of us couldn’t resist the temptation. It had been awhile since I’d shot an arrow, but I think I did pretty good. I didn’t get a bulls-eye but hey, at least I hit the target!

We finished up with a stroll back through the three courtyards and out the gate. We caught a nearby bus that took us out of the city walls towards another section of the city. There we stopped to see the Nanjing Massacre Museum. For those of you who don’t know anything about this event, here’s a short history lesson:

“On December 13, 1937, the Japanese army occupied Nanjing (also referred to as Nanking). It is widely accepted that during the first six to eight weeks of their occupation, the Japanese army committed numerous atrocities, including rape, arson, and mass executions. There is, however, controversy over the scale of the massacre, especially in Japan where a minor group of negationists even go so far as to claim that the massacre never happened.

The Chinese government insists that an estimated 300,000 civilians and unarmed Chinese soldiers were brutally slaughtered. This estimate of "more than 300,000 dead" was made from burial records and eyewitness accounts. Corpses littered the streets and were seen afloat in rivers for weeks, and many structures in the city were burned down. Countless shops, stores, and residences were looted and sacked.^[1]

Japanese soldiers were also reported to have conducted killing competitions and bayonet practice using live Chinese prisoners.”

If you want to know more you can check out this website: www.nj1937.org/english/default.asp

As you approach the museum you are greeted by a giant statue of a woman holding a child limp in her arms.

The walkway to the entrance gate is lined with statues depicting excerpts from journals of people in the massacre. Walking through the exhibition hall, you are able to read countless accounts of the occurrences on Nanjing, videos of interviews, and displays depicting the city’s wreckage added to the atmosphere. It was one of the saddest things I’d ever seen. The exhibition hall took us a couple hours to get through; however there are also several outdoor exhibits that we only scratched the surface of. It was one of those places that really just make you wonder about humanity.

After the museum we took the bus back to the Zhongua gate and caught another bus up to the Purple Mountain Scenic Area. It’s a large park housing several monuments and museums to various important figures in Chinese history. The biggest draw to the mountain in the Mausoleum of Sun Yat-Sen. From where the bus dropped us off we had to first walk about 20 min to the bottom of the Mausoleum and from there climb the 300-and something stairs to the top.

There you could walk through the mausoleum where a large statue of the doctor himself sat. Some of the group headed out from there to go find a shopping plaza they had heard of while the rest of us stayed to explore the mountain some more. After climbing back down the stairs we took off down a small path the\at meandered through the trees for while, and we got to enjoy a small taste of nature. It eventually led to an area we recognized and since it was growing dark we decided to head back down to the bus stop. When we got there however everything seemed to be deserted, and by that time the sun was gone, despite the fact it was only about 5:30. Now we knew the mausoleum didn’t close until 6 so we were sure the buses couldn’t have stopped running. But as time ticked by with no sign of it we started getting worried, it didn’t help that the creepy van taxi people kept stopping to offer us rides.

Besides us there was a small group of people across the road grouped together by a couple cars and an old man sitting in a dimly lit store eating a coup of noodles. We went for the old man. We new he was the one least likely to speak English but we figured he was the least threatening. We used one of our phrasebooks to attempt to ask him about the bus. After a couple tries he started nodding his head and motioned for us to follow him over to the group of people. We were a little nervous but as we got closer we suddenly recognized one of the ladies. She had been on the bus we took up to the mountain! That’s when we realized that the group of people was gathered around a shack that we hadn’t realized was actually the bus stop. Just at that moment the bus came rolling around the corner and we all breathed a sigh of relief. Now that we were on the bus we had it all under control!

From there we took the bus to the Fuzi Miao. At first glance it looks like a mall of sorts with more expensive shopping. However, if you explore back behind all the fancier stores you find a whole ton of haggling shops and stalls littering a maze of back-alleys. We didn’t end up buying much, but it was super fun to wander about the winding streets. Some places it was a pretty tight squeeze down the itty-bitty walkways! As dinner time drew close we hopped on the subway and headed into downtown Nanjing. We walked down Hunan Rd which seemed to be theNanjing equivalent of Nanjing Rd in Shanghai. Turning off of that street we headed down another until we found the restaurant we had been told about. It was a pizza place that was supposed to be a pretty good deal. The price was decent but man the pizza was definitely worth it! Can I tell you how much I miss cheese!! I even got some mozzarella sticks! One of my favorite meals I must say.

After the long day was over we headed back to our good old hostel and crashed. The beds btw were some of the softest I’ve slept on since I’ve been here. Honestly though I actually really like our hard beds we have in our dorm.

The next morning we woke up nice and early and headed in to town to do the one thing I’ve missed the most since I’ve been here: GO TO CHURCH!! :D :D It was in a conference room in the basement of a fancy hotel and the signs showing you to the room had “Brigham Young University” as the listing. We were greeted by several very excited people who asked us all about our time in China. As church was about to start a group of students walked in and sat a few rows up from me. I was standing up in the aisle talking to someone when I realized that one of the girls was looking at me. As I looked back I was suddenly stunned, she was apparently too as she quickly exclaimed “Lorilei?!” I couldn’t believe my eyes. Sitting there in the middle of China was this girl named Morgan I had known in High School. I hadn’t seen her since graduation, and of all places I ran into her in China!! It was one of those moments that you can never quite get your head around. We took a few minutes and caught up before sacrament got started. I’ve never enjoyed church more than I did those three hours. It was a blessed gift to get to be there, and I’m so glad we were able to find that ward and go to it.

Afterwards a group of them invited us to lunch. They showed us a cool sandwich shop which was super delicious. The shop also had one of my other dearly missed treats: Mint chocolate ice cream! It was five Yuan for an itty-bitty scoop but it was so worth it!
We walked around the city for a little while; we found a supermarket with a ton of imported American food which was cool and yummy. Then we headed to the train station, but we still had a little time until we left so we went and sat on the edge of the lake and enjoyed the closest thing to a sunset we can get over here.

While we sat enjoying the weather a group of Chinese student’s from southern China came over to talk to us. There were three girls and three guys and they were way cool and fun to talk to. They were all classmates at a University and were in Nanjing on vacation. Turns out they had taken a 12 hour train ride to get there and were heading back after just a day and a half. We chatted with them for a good while, but alas we had to go catch our train so we bud farewell. Before leaving them however, we found out that none of them had been given English names (which is surprising considering how good their English was) so we asked them if we could give them names. They were all more than happy (in fact they were thrilled!) to have a group of Americans give them English names. It was a cool experience and after trading QQ numbers we said our goodbyes and headed inside.

Nanjing was a cool place to get to see. It’s a place full of history. And culture, much like just about every place I’ve been. And like all my other travels, I would come back in a heartbeat. Who knows maybe I will, after all it’s only a short train ride from my dear Changzhou.