On Your Own In China

JIANGSU
PROVINCE

Nanking (Nanjing)
Nanking, on the southern bank of the Yangtse River about 200 miles (320 kilometres) west of Shanghai, has served as the capital of China a number of times during the past 2000 years, and the Nationalists on Taiwan Still consider it to be the theoretical capital of their Republic of China. Today, it is just the capital of Jiangsu Province and a pleasant city with many tree-lined streets and a number of interesting touristsites.

In A.D. 221, at the beginning of the Three Kingdoms period, Nanking became the first city in central China to play host to the 'Son of Heaven', and it remained the imperial capital until 589 when the last Zhen emperor was dragged off to the Sui capital at Xi'an after being found hiding in a well with two of his concubines. Nanking continued to prosper nevertheless, and became an important centre for iron-making and textiles. In the mid-fourteenth century, as the Mongol dynasty crumbled, a Buddhist-novice-turned-bandit-chief named Zhu Yuanzhang seized the opportunity and established his own dynasty, the Ming, in Nanking, and finally drove the Mongols out of China altogether. He had a magnificent imperial palace built, which later served as the model for the present Imperial Palace in Peking, and had a 22-mile (35-kilometre) wall constructed round the city, most of which is still standing, reputedly the longest city wall in the world. About 20000 wealthy families from all over the country were 'invited' to set up house in Nanking to add to its splendour, but the third Ming emperor abandoned the city and moved the capital back to Peking.

In 1851, the Taiping rebels, led by the self-proclaimed younger brother of Jesus Christ, Hong Xiuquan, captured Nanking and made it the capital of their 'Kingdom of Heavenly Peace' which, for 13 years, controlled most of southern China. The Manchu dynasty, already declining into corruption and feebleness, was barely able to stand up to the Taiping rebels, but the decision of the foreign powers to support the Manchus rather than the Taipings eventually helped to turn the tide. The Taiping Rebellion is a fascinating period, as it in some ways foreshadowed the Communist revolution nearly a century later. Inspired by a foreign ideology, the Taipings carried out policies which would have been called socialist if there had been such a word in China in those days. They instituted land reform in the areas under their control, and treated women much more equally than traditional Chinese society. They also believed fiercely in the Christian God. But the Western powers, after flirting briefly with them, decided to support the more pliable Manchus, and sent in an army led by 'Chinese' Gordon (of Khartoum fame) to help put down the rebels.

In the final assault on Nanking in 1864, the city was almost completely destroyed. Hong Xiuquan died shortly before the Manchus took the city (there is no record of him having risen from the dead three days later). As many as 100000 Taipings are reported to have been slaughtered in the first days after Nanking was taken.

The city showy recovered from the devastation of the Taiping Rebellion, and in 1911, representatives from all over China met there and nominated Sun Yatsen as the first president of the Republic of China. He was forced to step aside in favour of the old Manchu general, Yuan Shikai, who insisted on making Peking his capital, but the Nationalist Party, which Sun Yatsen had founded, moved the capital back to Nanking in 1927. Many of the government offices in the city, Western-style buildings with Chinese-style roofs date from this era.

The invading Japanese armies took Nanking in 1937, and during their occupation killed a huge number of its residents in what appears to have been almost a calcuated attempt to depopulate the city. The exact number that died will never be known. The People's Daily, in June 1981, said that the Japanese killed 300000 people in Nanking in 1937 alone. One Japanese professor replied that the Japanese army could never have managed to dispose of such a huge number of bodies and put the number of dead at between 2000 and 3000. The Chinese figure is probably closer to the truth. The Japanese outraged east Asia in 1982 by altering the accounts of the Second World War in their school textbooks, watering down the image of the Japanese conquerors as barbaric imperialists. One change made was the insertion of the claim that the Nanking massacre was largely the fault of the people of Nanking who had provoked the reprisal killings.

1) Bell Tower (zhong Lou)
2) Drum Tower ( CuLou)
3) King of Borneo's Tomb
4) Linggu Temple
5 Remains of Ming ralace
6) Mingxiaoling (Ming Tomb)
7) Nanjing Fandian (Hotel)
8) Nanjing & Jiangsu Museum
9) Observatory
10) Rain of Flower Terrace (Yu huatal)
11) Renmin Bazaar
12) Shitoucheng (Stone city)
13) Southern Tang Tombs and Bull's Head Hill
14) Dr, Sun yat-sen's Mausoleum lung
15) Taiping Museum
16) University' of Nanjing
17) Yuhuatai Martyr's Memorial park
18) Dingshan Binguan (Hotel)
19) Shengli Hotel

Nanking today has a population of over three million people and a varied industrial sector. The Nanking bridge across the Yangtse River, four miles (6.4 kilometres) in length and one of only three along the river's length, was finished in 1969.

In early 1976, as the radicals and moderates in the Chinese leader-ship geared up for the big struggle that would inevitably follow Mao's death, Nanking once more played an important role in national politics. In March, the radicals published a veiled attack on the late Premier Chou Enlai in a Shanghai newspaper. (Chou, who had died in January, was the leader of the moderate faction in the leadership and very popular with the ordinary people of China.) Absolutely incensed by this attack, students and workers in Nanking pasted up posters censuring 'conspirators' they said were attempting to 'usurp power', i.e., the radicals led by Madame Mao and Zhang Chunqiao. There were mass meetings and some people daubed slogans on the sides of trains heading for Peking to make sure people in the capital knew about the uproar in Nanking. The seeds of dissent spread and resulted in the mass demonstrations in the centre of Peking in early April, known as the Tiananmen Riots.

Just inside the eastern city gate is the PROVINCIAL MUSEUM, south of which are the remains of the Ming dynasty's Imperial Palace, which 3 once covered a huge area. The DRUM TOWER in the centre of town also dates from the Ming period, and is probably the best-preserved building from that era in Nanking. Stretching west from the Drum Tower is Beijing Xilu, lined with buildings which were once the embassies and consulates of the foreign powers.

At the southern end of the city walls is the magnificent ZHONGHUA GATE, built at the same time as the city wall in the late fourteenth century. Just outside the gate once stood the Porcelain Pagoda, considered by many European travellers of the early nineteenth century to be one of the wonders of the world. It was destroyed during the Taiping Rebellion.

Little remains of the ii years that Nanking served as capital of the Taiping empire. Hong Xiuquan's former PALACE was almost completely destroyed by the Manchu troops, and the Nationalists built government offices on the site (east of Taiping Lu on Changjiang Lu); just about all that remains of it is a stone boat sitting in a pond. The TAIPING MUSEUM (Zhonghua Lu, just north of the Zhonghua Gate) was once the palace of one of Hong Xiuquan's lieutenants.

On Muchou Lu in the western part of the city is the CHAOTIAN GONG, a beautiful former Confucian temple dating from the i8~s. The area in front of the temple is now a local recreation area and is a pleasant place to go and people-watch.

Northeast of the city centre is XUANWU LAKE PARK, which includes a zoo with a few pandas. Part of the city wall also lies within the park for you to clamber along.

The most important tourist sites are found to the east of the city (take a No.9 bus), including the TOMB OF THE FIRST MING DYNASTY FMPEROR, built in 1381. Nothing much remains of the tomb except 12 pairs of stone animals and statues of officials lining the path to the entrance. Further to the east, at the No.9 bus terminus, is the SUN YATSEN MAUSOLEUM, built by the Nationalists in the 19205. The mausoleum is set in a large wooded park, and Dr Sun's coffin stands in a domed vault at the top of a hill. There was a debate a few years ago bout whether his body was really in the coffin or whether the Nationalists had taken it to Taiwan with them, but the authorities insist that it is still there.

Further east again from the Sun Yatsen Mausoleum is the LINGGU TEMPLE, of which only one building remains - the Wuliang (beamless) Hall, first built in 1381, which is distinguished by its lack of wooden beams.

South of the city centre in another park is the YUHUATAI (rain flower terrace), which serves as a memorial to the 100000 people that the Communists say the Nationalists executed in Nanking during their years of rule there. Further south still is the TOMB OF A KING OF BORNEO who died in Nanking in 1408 while on a visit to pay homage to the Emperor of the Central Kingdom.

Food and shopping
Most of the best restaurants in town are strung out along Zhongshan Road. Try the Peking Mutton Restaurant at 94 Zhongshan Dong Lu, or the Old Canton Restaurant at 45 Zhongshan Lu, north of Xinjiekou, the main intersection. The local Friendship Store is on Daqing Lu.

How to get there and where to stay
Nanking is connected to most major centres by plane, and is a major stop on the Peking-Shanghai railway. There are also daily ferries on the Yangtse River to and from both Shanghai and Wuhan upstream.

The main tourist hotels are the Nanjing Hotel (259 Zhongshan Bei Lu; take a No.32 bus from the railway station), and the Dingshan Hotel (90 Chahaer Lu) which is less conveniently located. Budget travellers usually like to stay at the Shengli (victory) Hotel (75 Zhongshan Lu; take a No.1 or No.33 bus from the railway station).

Suzhou
As the saying goes: 'Above there is Heaven, below there is Suzhou and Hangzhou.' Maybe it's the build-up that spoils it, but I find Suzhou to be disappointingly similar to most other cities in central China. Nevertheless, its tree-lined streets and whitewashed buildings are a pleasant change after the grey of Peking. And according to tradition, Suzhou girls are supposed to be the most beautiful in China, which helps.

The Grand Canal, first built in the seventh century as an inland transport route for grain, is close by the city, and like many other places along the canal's path, Suzhou prospered from its presence. Marco Polo, in his Travels, refers briefly to Suzhou, noting that rhubarb grew in great abundance in the surrounding hills.

Suzhou became a major centre of the silk industry and the home of many rich merchants who spent part of their profits building classically designed gardens, some of which are considered to be the best Chinese gardens in existence. Unfortunately, the town became a battleground during the Taiping Rebellion in the mid-nineteenth century and was badly damaged. Since 1949, it has grown and become partially industrialised, and the ubiquitous factory chimneys have gone a long way to destroying the atmosphere of this ancient-town. That's progress. The good news is that there are still plenty of old things to see, including about a dozen gardens.

The gardens were built as secluded retreats for the rich, and probably looked better in the old days when they were virtually deserted except for the odd concubine or two draped over a distant rock. Today, the gardens are a major tourist attraction and on most days are packed with visitors, which tends to destroy the atmosphere. Some are also looking a bit tatty. The HUMBLE ADMINISTRA TOR'S GARDEN, in the north of the city on Beisita Lu, is the best known. It was built in 1513 and completely restored in the 1950s. Another famous one is the LIUYUAN - 'garden to linger in' - constructed a couple of centuries later, which includes a famous 20-foot (6-metre) tall rock named Guanyun Feng (cloud-capped peak), taken from nearby Taihu (Tai Lake), a piece of naturalistic art.

The smallest of the Suzhou gardens is WANGSHI YUAN (fisherman garden). it comprised three courtyards, one of which has been reproduced in the New York Metropolitan Museum as an exquisite example of the art of Chinese gardens. My guide, however, said that as far as she was concerned, the museum had got the wrong court-yard. They should have chosen the one next door, which is, she reckoned, much more beautiful. Just outside Suzhou is TIGER HILL (Huqiu) topped by a 1000-year-old pagoda which is China's answer to the Leaning Tower of Pisa. The hill itself is said to have been constructed as a funeral mound for a local king, 2500 years ago. The 150 foot (137-metre) tall pagoda on top began to tilt several centuries ago, and has now reached such a precarious angle that it has had to be propped up with concrete supports.

The ancient king buried under the hill is said to have a huge-treasure trove with him, including 3000 swords and a hoard of gold and jade, but the entrance to the tomb has never been found. At one point, just below the pagoda, is a large slab of red-stained stone, which is said to have gained its pigment from the blood spilled by the workmen killed after constructing the tomb, so that the secret would be safe.

A number of factories in Suzhou are open to tourists, including silk and sandalwood workshops. One place that is not open, but is nevertheless worth a mention, is the SUZHOU ARTS AND CRAFTS EESEARCH INSTITUTH where several young men spend all day carving Chinese poems and pictures on to miniscule objects such as slivers of ivory or even strands of hair. One of the workers has even carved the words 'Panda, the envoy of friendship' on a panda hair. In 1981, another worker produced an ivory carving of a Buddha only three millimetres tall, the robes and face of which can only be distinguished through a microscope. It is said to be the world's smallest carving. Suzhou is known for its various handicrafts, including silks, sandalwood fans and embroidery which are available at the local Friendship Store (92 Guanqian Jie) or the Arts and Crafts Sales Department (274 Jingde Lu).

Suzhou cuisine is distinctive and noted particularly for 'various kinds of seafood, including crab and eel dishes. Noted restaurants include the Songhelou Caiguan (141 Guanqian Jie), and the Xinjiufeng Caiguan (637 Renmin Lu). Also, buy some Chinese nibbles at the Daoxiangcun Sweet and Cake Shop (35 Guanqian Jie), a famous Suzhou landmark.

How to get there and where to stay
Suzhou is only a couple of hours' train ride from Shanghai and makes a good day-trip from that city. If you want to stay overnight, fore-igners usually stay at the Suzhou Hotel (115 Youyi Lu) which, apart from having nice regular rooms, also has a dormitory for budget travellers. The Gusu Hotel, next door to the Suzhou, is relatively new. Another hotel is the Nanlin Hotel (19 Gunxiu Fang).

Wuxi
Wuxi (pronounced wu-see), situated on the shores of Tai Lake (Taihu) not far from Suzhou, is considered to be one of the most picturesque towns in China and is therefore included on many official tourist itineraries. Unfortunately, much of the 'olde woride' charm has been lost in the past 30 years as Wuxi has been developed into a major light industrial centre, but there are still streets which have retained their character. According to legend, the area once had a number of tin mines and was thus called Youxi - literally 'have tin' - but about 2000 years ago, the tin ran out, and the name was changed to Wuxi, 'no tin'.

Wuxi has been a silk-producing centre for centuries (THE NUMBER 1 SILK REELING MILL is open to visitors), but the GRAND CANAL, built in the seventh century, has been the town's economic lifeline for most of its history. Standing on one of the little bridges and watching life float by on a motley collection of junks and sampans is an educational way to spend an hour.

The town's biggest tourist attraction, however, is TAI LAKE, the fourth largest freshwater lake in China although it only has a depth of ten feet (3 metres) at its deepest point. The China Travel Service (local office: 42 Yucainong, Shixin Lane) operates boat trips on the lake. There are a number of classically designed gardens nearby, including the Liyuan, but they are not as interesting as the gardens of Suzhou.

How to get there and where to stay
Wuxi is on the main Shanghai-Peking railway line, a short ride northwest of Suzhou. Most foreigners stay at the Shuixiu Hotel or the Hubin Hotel (next to each other on Liyuan Lu). Some budget travellers have managed to get into the dormitory at the Taihu Hotel (Meiyuan Lu).

Yangzhou (Yangchow)

This town has more history than most places in China, and thankfully still looks like it. The beauty of Yangzhou and its surroundings has been the subject of poets for centuries, and the town has been spared the sort of indiscriminate industrialisation which has ruined so many other beautiful cities. Yangzhou lies on the Grand Canal just to the north of the Yangtse River, and the construction of the canal in the seventh century, for the transportation of grain from Hangzhou to Peking, was what made Yangzhou a thriving commercial centre.

According to Marco Polo's account of his travels, he was governor of Yangzhou for three years in the 1290S while an official in the Mongol administration of Kublai Khan. None of the Chinese records mentions him, so he could not have been the official governor of the city, but one version of the Travels perhaps explains the mystery, by adding that he held office 'by the Great Khan's commission in place of one of the... barons'. During the Qing dynasty, Yangzhou grew in importance again as a centre of the salt trade, and the rich merchants who lived here at that time built gardens and pavilions and supported an artists' colony which gave rise to a distinctive and well-known school of Chinese painting.

Of the many gardens and temples to be visited in Yangzhou, the most famous is the FAJING SI (Fajing temple) in the northwest of the town, which is dedicated to the monk Jian Zhen, credited with introducing Buddhism to Japan 1500 years ago. Most of the temple buildings, however, were destroyed during the Taiping Rebellion in the mid-nineteenth century and were only rebuilt in the 1930s. (Take a No. 5 bus to the terminus.) There are a number of classical-style gardens to be seen, the best-known of which is the GE YUAN (Ge garden) in the northeast. In the east of the town is the SHITA (stone pagoda), built in the Tang dynasty.

How to get there and where to stay
Yangzhou is a couple of hours away by road from Nanking, and is probably best treated as a day-trip from that city. Foreigners who spend the night in Yangzhou stay at the Xiyuan Hotel (Fenglousheng Lu).

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