Nanjing

There are three great cities in the general area where the Yangtze River meets the sea. We have already visited Shanghai and Hangzhou, today let's visit Nanjing.

Nanjing was capital of China during the Ming Dynasty, and was once the largest city in the world. The Ming Dynasty, from 1368 to 1644, was a great period in Chinese and world history. During this time Beijing, the current capital of China, was made a secondary northern capital, but Nanjing was the main capital. Most of the six hundred year old walls of Nanjing are still there. The Forbidden City of Beijing was supposedly based on on the now-gone Ming Palace of Nanjing.

The city itself goes far back into ancient times. it is built on the site of an "Ancient Stone City", from the Warring States Period of the Fifth Century B.C., which is now part of Nanjing's wall. The famed admiral, Zheng He, who made sea voyages all over Asia and to Africa during the Ming Dynasty, was based in Nanjing.

The center of Nanjing today is the area around the Confucian Temple. A temple was first constructed here in the year 384. The Qinhuai River meets the Yangtze River at Nanjing.

There are multiple scenes following. To see the scenes, after the first one, you must first click the up arrow, ^, before you can move on to the next scene by clicking the right or forward arrow, >. After clicking the up arrow, you can then hide the previews of successive scenes, if you wish.

https://www.google.com/maps/@32.0236043,118.7870183,3a,75y,98.94h,90t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1s-aaMzxrnM7bo%2FV1Puw7MmhRI%2FAAAAAAAAi6o%2Ffc0iB6ISapg9KLoOmmVBX5vKzrPU1hLIQCLIB!2e4!3e11!6s%2F%2Flh3.googleusercontent.com%2F-aaMzxrnM7bo%2FV1Puw7MmhRI%2FAAAAAAAAi6o%2Ffc0iB6ISapg9KLoOmmVBX5vKzrPU1hLIQCLIB%2Fw203-h100-k-no-pi0-ya329.51166-ro-0-fo100%2F!7i8704!8i4352

The Qixia Temple, not far from Nanjing, dates from the year 489. Also in the images may be seen the mausoleum of Dr. Sun Yat Sen, but this was built in the Twentieth Century. Sun Yat Sen is the founder of the modern Republic of China, and was it's first president.

He founded the Nationalist Party, which later lost to the Communists and withdrew to Taiwan, but it still honored in the mainland as the founder of the modern country. Sun Yat Sen died in 1925, before the Long March and the Civil War which resulted in victory for the Communists. Nanjing was the capital of China, until the victorious Communists moved the capital to Beijing. The name was changed from "Republic of China" to "People's Republic of China".

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sun_Yat-sen_Mausoleum#/media/File:Hall_of_Sun_Yat-sen_Mausoleum.jpg

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sun_Yat-sen_Mausoleum#/media/File:Sun_Yat-sen_Mausoleum_at_1st_May_2011.jpg

https://www.google.com/maps/@32.1519747,118.9594302,3a,75y,93.89h,90t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1s-IDamLnlrrJg%2FV6bqFJO2CQI%2FAAAAAAAAEYY%2FzbYiY0L1ZV8TGkN-qgAswGnq1786MThygCJkC!2e4!3e11!6s%2F%2Flh6.googleusercontent.com%2F-IDamLnlrrJg%2FV6bqFJO2CQI%2FAAAAAAAAEYY%2FzbYiY0L1ZV8TGkN-qgAswGnq1786MThygCJkC%2Fw203-h100-k-no-pi-0-ya58.591843-ro-0-fo100%2F!7i10752!8i4506

This was the Presidential Palace, and the surrounding area, from when the capital of the Republic of China was in Nanjing, until the civil war in 1949.

https://www.google.com/maps/@32.0448145,118.7968535,3a,75y,39.68h,90t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1s-2p9sr9DNh1k%2FV8TMAYpWvVI%2FAAAAAAAAAH8%2F6x_NKesoHL0VhSn6Szbrtlaf7Izsla4egCLIB!2e4!3e11!6s%2F%2Flh6.googleusercontent.com%2F-2p9sr9DNh1k%2FV8TMAYpWvVI%2FAAAAAAAAAH8%2F6x_NKesoHL0VhSn6Szbrtlaf7Izsla4egCLIB%2Fw203-h100-k-no-pi-0-ya134.11806-ro-0-fo100%2F!7i8704!8i4352

The following scenes show the "Stone City" that was built during the ancient Fifth Century B.C. "Warring States" period, and is now incorporated into Nanjing's Fourteenth-Century walls.

https://www.google.com/maps/@32.051362,118.751906,3a,75y,304h,88t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1s-L4VnX0pvu9Q%2FWPN4FjHDRAI%2FAAAAAAAADiI%2FyfrbDsscFys4tHuunDJpAvSwSwPTWwlJwCLIB!2e4!3e11!6s%2F%2Flh3.googleusercontent.com%2F-L4VnX0pvu9Q%2FWPN4FjHDRAI%2FAAAAAAAADiI%2FyfrbDsscFys4tHuunDJpAvSwSwPTWwlJwCLIB%2Fw203-h100-k-no-pi-2.9338646-ya304.5-ro0-fo100%2F!7i8000!8i4000

The following scenes center around the six-hundred-year-old walls and gates of Nanjing.

https://www.google.com/maps/@32.0153989,118.7766879,3a,75y,259h,88t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1s-CJ2j6OKqyeI%2FVOH6l6qWhQI%2FAAAAAAAArNM%2FYL14CcVkEjMANZh9KDV3KaA26VZk_18XwCJkC!2e4!3e11!6s%2F%2Flh5.googleusercontent.com%2F-CJ2j6OKqyeI%2FVOH6l6qWhQI%2FAAAAAAAArNM%2FYL14CcVkEjMANZh9KDV3KaA26VZk_18XwCJkC%2Fw203-h100-k-no-pi-2.9999962-ya24.499996-ro-0-fo100%2F!7i10240!8i5120

Here are some scenes of modern central Nanjing.

https://www.google.com/maps/@32.0423735,118.7828362,3a,75y,46h,88t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1s-Kk2S9sor2tc%2FVCNVtx18uLI%2FAAAAAAAABKk%2FhdgrRm_8yBwmxwbr9ObAZW1IHpLLY4vBACJkC!2e4!3e11!6s%2F%2Flh6.googleusercontent.com%2F-Kk2S9sor2tc%2FVCNVtx18uLI%2FAAAAAAAABKk%2FhdgrRm_8yBwmxwbr9ObAZW1IHpLLY4vBACJkC%2Fw203-h100-k-no-pi-2.9999962-ya47.500015-ro-0-fo100%2F!7i8704!8i4352

Here are some more views of modern Nanjing.

https://www.google.com/maps/@31.9944588,118.7039999,3a,75y,34h,88t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1s-Sn563NZfaSA%2FWPgE7bbmqFI%2FAAAAAAAByYA%2FR5ibbjc-NywfBguhOTfF4R6U9IdluUI1ACLIB!2e4!3e11!6s%2F%2Flh3.googleusercontent.com%2F-Sn563NZfaSA%2FWPgE7bbmqFI%2FAAAAAAAByYA%2FR5ibbjc-NywfBguhOTfF4R6U9IdluUI1ACLIB%2Fw203-h100-k-no-pi-2.9338646-ya145.5-ro-0-fo100%2F!7i8704!8i4352

This is the Nanjing Yangtze Bridge. The bridge was open in 1968, received world-wide architectural recognition, and was considered as an icon of the city.

https://www.google.com/maps/@32.1184628,118.7278728,3a,75y,259h,88t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1s-ZIyGtGENELU%2FV330kPXG0II%2FAAAAAAAAjJ8%2F0iQiLepi8jkW5TBIL1KAwncnFv5GJnbjQCLIB!2e4!3e11!6s%2F%2Flh5.googleusercontent.com%2F-ZIyGtGENELU%2FV330kPXG0II%2FAAAAAAAAjJ8%2F0iQiLepi8jkW5TBIL1KAwncnFv5GJnbjQCLIB%2Fw203-h100-k-no-pi-2.9999962-ya322.50003-ro-0-fo100%2F!7i8704!8i4352

Here is a suburb, to the west of the Yangtze River.

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