Massacres, Walls, Museums and Ruins

Friday, October 3. Up early. We have a lot to do today. First, we take a taxi to the Memorial Hall of the Nanjing Massacre. The unsettling statues and exhibits in the museum document the atrocities committed by Japanese soldiers against the civilian population of Nanjing in 1937. Of course, there have been larger atrocities committed in this world (see WWII Holocaust), but this one was bad enough. I find the outdoor statues particularly evocative, and the museum is quite well done. Captions are in English and Japanese as well as Chinese, which makes a huge difference. The last section of the whole complex, which includes a bronze walkway with footprints of witnesses/survivors, is dedicated to peace so at least it ends on a hopeful note.

Our next stop is the southern section of the ancient city walls and the Zhonghua gate. Built under the orders of the first Ming emperor, HongWu (there's a them here; see earlier entry about his tomb!), the walls surrounding Nanjing were the most extensive in the world at the time. The walls are 40 feet high and 20 miles long, in an irregular shape around the city's natural contours (they left out Zijin Mountain). About 2/3 of the walls remain standing. Made of bricks supplied from five provinces, each brick had stamped on it the place it came from, the overseer's name and rank, the brick-maker's name and sometimes the date. This was to ensure that the bricks were well made; if they broke, they had to be replaced.

Zhonghua Gate was a strategic part of the city's southern defenses. Its walls were cemented by a mortar made in part of glutinous rice! There are four rows of gates, separated by courtyards, making it virtually impregnable. Ramps for the generals on horseback and delivery of provisions run up each side.

We pop over to the Fuzi Temple area for lunch in restaurant that seems to specialize in duck. Menu in Chinese so we walk around pointing at other people's food indicating what we want! It reminds me a little of the restaurant at Quincy Market, with large tables where you sit with other people, poor service, but good food. This area is crowded and touristy so we don't linger but do run into some other Westerners: a group of "clowns" and other entertainers (jugglers etc) who are here for a conference and also performing.

The Nanjing Museum turns out to be the highlight of our visit to Nanjing, for me at least. There are lovely gardens in the complex, a History Museum and an Art Museum. We opt for the Art Museum, deciding that we won't have the energy to do both. But after our visit, I definitely would come back to Nanjing, not only to see the History Museum but to see the Art Museum again as well. Spectacular collection of lacquerware and jade, including a jade burial suit consisting of small rectangles of jade sewn together with silver thread. Beautiful ceramics. But my favorite display is the collection of terra cotta tea pots, some in the most inventive shapes one can imagine, including a pomegranate that has been opened to reveal its seeds! Tara said later she was afraid she would hear glass breaking while I was in there, trying to take home a little souvenir!

We are tired but the map indicates that we are not far from the Ming Palace ruins so we walk down Zhongshan Donglu (that would be East Zhongshan Rd to you), hoping to find them. Well, we find something that looks like it could be the ruins, in a park that we have to pay 2 yuan to enter. It's a lovely setting, and there certainly are pillar bases and a few bridges so we think this is the place, but further down the road, we see another spot that contains even more ruins. A nice man who speaks a little English tells us that these are the Ming Palace ruins. Well, whatever. We decide we've seen some ruins anyway, and it's time to call it a day! Sight-seeing fatigue has set in.

We taxi back to hotel to rest, then go out for dinner at little restaurant on our street - not the greatest Chinese food ever but it's OK. Basically rice and vegetables or noodles and vegetables but not a lot of flavor. Where are the hot peppers that we've gotten used to? :)