About Nanjing Ttavel Guide

Nanjing , an ancient metropolis of ten different dynasties, is a city surrounded by mountains, rivers and green trees. Hundreds of thousands of years ago, the ancestors of Nanjing residents had been living in caves at Tangshan Hill until 5,000 to 6,000 years ago when some of them came to the tableland near rivers and made a living by fishing, hunting and farming.

Nanjing took shape at the confluence of the Changjiang (Yangtze) River and Qinhuaihe River. Goujian, King of Yue State, had a city built by the Qinhuaihe River and named it Yuecheng 2,500 years ago. Later Chu State had a city called Jinling erected at the foot of Qingliangshan Hill. Yuecheng and Jinling were the embryonic forms of Nanjing.

Nanjing History:

The Stone Hill, rushed by the Yangtze River from Southwest, is a strategically location and difficult access. Sunquan, King of State Wu, had his military fortress built here with the giant rocks by the river and named it the Stone City, which is also called the Ghost Face City because of its grotesque shape. Ever since then, Jinling, Shitou (Stone) City have been the ancient aliases of Nanjing.

Gucheng in the suburbs far from the south of the city is the remains of Laizhu City, a military fortress contended by Wu and Chu States some 2,500 years ago. It boasts numerous cultural relics, especially two pools which are linked together, while one is clear, the other is turbid.

The Six Dynasties Period (from the beginning of the 3rd century to the end of the 6th century) were the prime of ancient Nanjing. After the downfall of Western Jin, North China was reigned by chieftains of some nomads. A lot of aristocrats, men of letters, craftsmen migrated to the south of China, which promoted the development of local culture, economy, crafts and technology. With the centre of Chinese traditional culture moved southward, Nanjing became the biggest city of that time and a new culture center in acient China.

Many cultural relics were ruined by Yang Jian and Yang Guang, the emperors of the Sui Dynasty in the late of the Six Dynasties Period. Only 20 stone carvings in front of some tombs in the suburbs survived in the disaster, which are the world renowned Stone Casings of the Southern Dynasties. Flanking the Sacred Way in front of the tombs of emperors, empresses, princes and imperial concubines, there are the Southern Dynasty Stone Carvings of celestial animals with feet, horns and wings, such as Tianlu, Qilin, Bixie, as well as Wangzhu (pillars) and tablets. It has been more than 1,400 years since they exposed themselves in wind and rain.

The Nanjing City Wall that was built 600 years ago is the cultural remains of the Ming Dynasty. The outer wall made of earth is 180 li (90 kilometers) in circumference, the inner city wall made of blue bricks, porcelain bricks and huge stones is 67 li (33.5kilometers) Nanjing is the largest walled city in the world. The Zhonghuamen Gate with four arched gates and three partitioned strongholds is the biggest citadel in theworld.
In the outer suburbs south of the city there stands a natural rock bridge over Yanzhihe River, which is a canal cloven through a rocky hill for transporting cereals.

Nanjing At Present:

Nanjing is one of the ealiest opening-up cities in China, endowed with advanced situation and abundant resources. Up to the end of 2000. there are about 130 hotels. 200 travel agencies, and plenty of designated restaurants and fleets.

Nowadays Nanjing becomes an civilized economic capital, with beautiful scenery. All the walls, gardens, greenlands, squares, mountains, rivers and trees made up picturesque views, which show us the unique charm of Nanjing "Green ancient capital, Mordern cultural city."

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• About Nanjing Ttavel Guide
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• Nanjing Restaurant and Food
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• Nanjing geography