Nanjing

The weekend before last I took off early Friday morning with Dave and Danthemanstan to head to Nanjing. Nanjing is the capital of the Jiangsu province (where Changzhou is located) and just a short train trip away. It's a city of 7 million, and the name Nanjing means 'Southern capital', for those wondering, yes Beijing means 'Northern capital'. Nanjing has had a pretty important role in the ancient and recent history of China, so we figured it would be a good place to visit. Danthemanstan had taken the initiative to book a hotel with the help of Teddy (our advisor). So we made it off the train, through the subway (only one line-thus a 50% chance of making the right decision!), and in a short walk we were ready to check in, drop our bags and hit the city. Well, the hotel receptionist didn't exactly see it that way. Apparently we needed our passports to check in, well none of us were carrying them. Now, Dave and I have done a fair amount of traveling so far; not once needing our passports. They wouldn't accept a copy of Dave's passport, they scoffed at Danthemanstan's driver's license and my foreign resident certificate wasn't good enough. Now, this certificate is issued by the Chinese government and has about all the information I would ever want, but apparently they needed to see our visas. I am not aware that China is having a big problem with American refugees, but this hotel was doing its part to make sure the problem doesn't start.

So, bags in hand, we headed to see some sites. Our first visit was to take a boat ride through some of historic homes and the old town of Nanjing. We soon discovered that the boat ride must be more popular in the summer. The three of us were accompanied on a cold and grey boat ride by the driver, the tour guide and someone who seemed to be a friend of the driver. After describing two of the items, the tour guide realized how useless her information was and left us with peace and quiet. For the record, I don't recommend the boat tour in Nanjing, unless of course you speak Chinese and are interested in the backs of famous old buildings. The highlight of the morning was instead the item featured in the picture. Now I had seen people eating these mysterious red balls on a stick everywhere. So Dave and I tried them. They turned out to be a small fruit covered in a red sugary coating. Now the fruit was unknown to us, being the size of a large grape, having the consistency of an apple, but being much more sour. Well it turns out the food is called tang hu lu, and is candied hawthorn fruit. It was my first candied hawthorn, and probably my last.

The next site was much more impressive. We made our way up the large hill that overlooks the city and got some really good views of the city, the growing Chinese economy provided a bit of smog as well. We also visited the Mausoleum of Sun Yat Sen, who is the father of modern China and led China in the early 1900s after imperial rule and before its civil war. The tomb is at the top of a very impressive staircase surrounded by beautiful gardens and forests. We capped our day off with some of the best food I have had in a while. Danthemanstan had heard of an French restaurant in town, run by actual French people as a side project while living in China for business. Now, don't get me wrong, the food here is great, I have always found something good to eat, and even enjoy the cafeteria food which my students despise. But this food was very delicious and featured cheese, something which does not exist (at all) in Chinese food. The restaurant was very nice, very French, and will be worth visiting again if I am back in Nanjing.

Luckily, Dave was able to contact one of the students from our school who is from Nanjing, who let us stay at his apartment. Robin, (his English name) and his family obviously have a little bit of money, as this was his own apartment. Some of the other more well off students have the same set-up; where their parents will buy them their own small apartment to hang out and host parties, etc. It was a step down from a hotel though, as Dave and I shared a bed and small blanket and Danthemanstan had the couch, although no blanket in the unheated apartment. While waiting for Robin to get back from the other side of the city (remember it's bigger than Chicago) we went to a bar he recommended. Normally it is a popular bar with foreigners, but we were in for a special treat. We were able to enjoy metal night at the bar. The big feature was Corrupt Absolute, an American heavy metal band!!! It reminded me again very clearly why I have never listened to heavy metal, and have no plans to do so in the future. They did have some very dedicated, head banging fans, all 7 of them.

In the morning we headed to the Nanjing Massacre/Rape of Nanjing memorial museum. China was in a civil war from 1927-1950, resulting from the Nationalists (Kuomintang) and the Communists both trying to control the country after the fall of imperial rule in 1911. In 1937, Japan used the civil war (and some complicated sea hostilities) as an opportunity to attack China. They were having lots of success, and Nanjing was an important city to take. They took the city in late 1937. For reasons essentially unknown, but often opined about, the Japanese stayed in the city for about two months and killed around 300,000 people, mostly civilians. Rape, torture, and looting also occurred in great numbers. The museum is dedicated to this incident. I thought it was very well done, sometimes a bit tedious, but very, very interesting. There is a very anti-Japanese sentiment in the whole museum, mainly stemming from Japan's tendency to down play or even outright deny the incident. I think it is pretty sad that even in this day there are still factions (albeit very minor) of the Japanese government that deny the event. I do think some of the anti-Japanese sentiment also comes from intense Chinese nationalism, and the incredibly tense and complicated Sino-Japanese relations. The last place we visited was a gate on the city wall, which was really cool. It was quite a structure, built originally in the 1300s. I don't know how this city could've ever been attacked without modern explosives, and judging by the great condition of the wall and gate, it wasn't. In the end it was a great trip to Nanjing, and next time we will bring our passports.