Tania in China

Where am I? Nanjing

For those who don't know anything about Nanjing, here is a thumbnail sketch, shamelessly copied from wikipedia.com...

NANJING (also known as Nanking) is the capital of China's Jiangsu Province and a city with a prominent place in Chinese history and culture. Nanjing has served as the capital of China during several historical periods, and is listed as one of the Four Great Ancient Capitals of China. Nanjing has always been one of China's most important cities. Apart from having been the capital of China for six dynasties and of the Republic of China, Nanjing has also served as a national hub of education, research, transportation and tourism throughout history. It is also the second largest commercial center in the East China region, behind only Shanghai.

Climate: Nanjing has a temperate climate, and is under the influence of East Asia Monsoon. Seasons are distinct in Nanjing, with usually hot summers and plenty of precipitation throughout the year. Nanjing is often referred to as one of the "Three Furnaces" along the Yangtze River, due to the historically high temperature in summer. According to the city government's website, the best weather of the year occurs from September to November.

Location: The city is 300 km west of Shanghai, 1200 km south of Beijing, and 1200 km north of Hong Kong.

History: Nanjing is one of the earliest established cities in the southern China area. According to the legend, Fu Chai, the Lord of the State of Wu, founded the first city, Yecheng (冶城) in today's Nanjing area in 495 BC. Nanjing first became a capital in 229 AD, where Sun Quan of the Wu Kingdom during the Three Kingdoms Period relocated its capital to Jianye (建邺), a city he extended on the basis of Jinling Yi in 211 AD.
Zhu Yuanzhang, the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty, established the city again as the capital of China in 1368, for the first time adopting the modern name, Nanjing, for the city. He constructed what was the largest city in the world during that time, and it took 200,000 laborers 21 years to finish the project. The present day city wall of Nanjing was mainly built during that time, and it is the longest surviving city wall in the world.
In 1912, Dr. Sun Yat-sen led a successful democratic revolution to overthrow the Qing Dynasty and founded the Republic of China, making Nanjing its capital. Dr. Sun Yat-sen's mausoleum is located in Nanjing today. The capital was later moved to Beijing after Yuan Shi-kai taking over the presidency.
In 1937, the Japanese army invaded and occupied Nanjing, which was then the capital of China. It is recognized that an often systematic, brutal Nanking massacre was carried out by the occupying force in the city. The total death tolls are unknown, since no official records were kept, and are often contested, but most estimates put the number of dead at around 300,000.
A puppet government led by Wang Jingwei was established in Nanjing, and after World War II, the KMT relocated its central government to Nanjing. On April 23, 1949, The People's Liberation Army conquered Nanjing, officially ending the Republic of China's rule in the mainland. After the establishment of the People's Republic of China, Nanjing was initially a province-level municipality, but very soon became, and today remains, the provincial capital of Jiangsu.

Where am I? I am stay and working at the Sheraton Nanjing Kingsley Hotel and Towers, near the heart of Nanjing.

posted by Tania @ 11:16 AM