Nanjing carries its history heavily. This city on a bend of the Yangtze has been the capital of China — or attempted to be — more times than any other place: six dynasties, the early Ming, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, and the Republic of China. It has also been the site of catastrophic violence: the 1937 massacre in which Japanese forces killed an estimated 200,000–300,000 civilians remains one of the defining traumas in Chinese national memory.
Understanding both layers — the grandeur and the tragedy — is essential to understanding Nanjing. It’s a city of extraordinary physical beauty, genuine historical depth, and a sombre undertone that distinguishes it from the breezy commercial energy of Shanghai or the imperial confidence of Beijing.
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Essential Information
| Detail | Info |
|---|---|
| Province | Jiangsu |
| Getting there | High-speed rail: Shanghai (1 hr), Beijing (3.5 hrs), Hangzhou (1.5 hrs) |
| Best season | Spring (March–April) or Autumn (October–November) |
| Notable food | Salt-water duck (盐水鸭), duck blood vermicelli soup (鸭血粉丝汤), beef soup (牛肉锅贴) |
| Key characteristic | More intellectual/cultural than Shanghai; significant student population (8 major universities) |
The Ming City Walls (明城墙)
Nanjing’s greatest physical survival from the Ming Dynasty: a city wall built between 1366 and 1393 that originally stretched 35 kilometres around the city. A remarkable 25 kilometres still stands — the most complete and longest ancient city wall in the world.
The wall varies between 14 and 21 metres high, built from locally fired “Ming bricks” — massive rectangular bricks each stamped with the name of the official responsible for its manufacture (a quality control system). The wall incorporates the natural landscape: it follows the contours of hills, incorporates lakes, and creates a dramatically irregular perimeter that confounded conventional siege approaches.
Walking the wall: Sections of the wall are accessible and walkable. The Jiuhua Mountain to Taicheng section near Xuanwu Lake offers the most dramatic views — the wall runs along a ridge with the city on one side and Xuanwu Lake on the other. Ticket ¥50; approximately 3 km of walkable battlement.
The main gates: 13 original gates survive in various states. Zhonghua Gate (中华门) is the most impressive — a massive fortress gate with multiple courtyards and a subterranean tunnel system carved into the gatehouse to store troops and provisions. Tickets ¥50; excellent museum inside.
Purple Mountain (紫金山)
The forested hill east of the old city — 448 metres, covered in deciduous forest and containing the most important concentration of historical sites in Nanjing.
Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum (中山陵)
The memorial tomb of the founder of the Republic of China, completed in 1929. A monumental staircase of 392 steps ascends through a series of ceremonial gates and halls to the burial chamber. The scale is imperial (deliberately — Sun Yat-sen saw himself as completing what the first Ming emperor began), the atmosphere profoundly serious.
Tip: Climb to the burial chamber first, then descend. The view from the top — looking down the full ceremonial axis through the forest to the city — is spectacular.
Practical: Free to walk the grounds; the main mausoleum hall ¥80; sizable walk from the cable car station.
Ming Xiaoling Mausoleum (明孝陵)
The tomb of Zhu Yuanzhang, the first Ming emperor and one of the most extraordinary figures in Chinese history — a peasant who became emperor. Built from 1381 to 1405, the complex is sprawling and half-forested, with a processional way lined with 12 pairs of stone animals and 6 pairs of human figures.
Unlike the Forbidden City or the Imperial tombs near Beijing, Xiaoling is relatively undeveloped. Much of the surrounding forest and the processional avenue can be walked with almost no other visitors mid-week.
The tunnel tomb mound itself is unexcavated and inaccessible — a grassy hill covered in ancient cypress trees, with the emperor buried below. Walking around the circumference (the “treasure wall”) takes 20–30 minutes. Ticket ¥70.
Linggu Temple and Wuliangdian (灵谷寺/无梁殿)
A Song Dynasty temple relocated to Purple Mountain by the first Ming emperor, combined with an extraordinary building: the Wuliangdian (beamless hall), a 14th-century vaulted masonry structure built entirely without wooden beams — the whole structure carried in brick arches. The engineering was considered remarkable even at the time. Ticket ¥35.
The Nanjing Massacre Memorial Hall (侵华日军南京大屠杀遇难同胞纪念馆)
The most important museum in Nanjing, and one of the most difficult anywhere. The memorial site covers the location of a massacre site from 1937, with a memorial hall built over the excavated remains of victims.
The exhibition is exhaustive, evidence-based, and devastating. Allow 2–3 hours. The outdoor spaces — a mass of grey stone with embedded names and sculpted figures — are among the most powerful memorial architecture in China.
Practical: Free entry; tickets must be booked online in advance via the official website. Open Tuesday–Sunday 8:30 AM–5:00 PM; closed Monday. Dress appropriately; the atmosphere is solemn.
A note on visiting: This is a site of historical trauma and should be approached with the seriousness appropriate to any war memorial. Photography guidelines are posted throughout; follow them.
The Old City: Streets and Districts
Confucius Temple Area (夫子庙)
The historic commercial district built around the Confucius Temple and the Qinhuai River — Nanjing’s social centre for a millennium. The riverside qinlou (pleasure quarter) was the setting for much classical Chinese literature; today it’s a tourist shopping street and food market with better underlying architecture than most comparable spots.
What’s actually worth doing here:
- Boat tours on the Qinhuai River at dusk (¥70–110 for various routes) — the lantern-lit waterfront is the best evening view in Nanjing
- Duck blood vermicelli soup (鸭血粉丝汤): Available from multiple small shops around the temple area; this specific Nanjing dish — tender duck blood, glass noodles, duck giblets in a rich broth — is the essential Nanjing bowl
- Walk along the river east of the temple toward Eastern Gate Promenade for the less touristy section of the Qinhuai
Laomendong (老门东)
A reconstructed Ming-Qing-style heritage quarter south of Confucius Temple. Better executed than many comparable projects — some genuinely old architecture preserved among the new construction. Good food market in the evenings: duck fat rice (鸭油烧卖), soup dumplings, various Nanjing snacks.
What to Eat
Salt-water Duck (盐水鸭): The defining Nanjing ingredient. Ducks are rubbed with salt, marinated in brine, and air-dried, then boiled and served cold. The result: extremely tender, subtly flavoured meat with none of the greasiness of Beijing’s roasted duck. Nanjing people buy whole ducks from specialist shops and eat them as a regular meal component.
Best purchase: Acquavit Nanjing salt-water duck from one of the specialist shops near Zhongyang Gate or around the university district — ask for 桂花鸭 (osmanthus duck) if visiting in autumn when osmanthus season adds floral notes to the brine.
Duck blood vermicelli soup (鸭血粉丝汤): Available from street shops throughout the city from ¥12–20. The dish that defines Nanjing street food — deeply flavourful broth, springy glass noodles, duck blood, tofu, giblets.
Beef pan-fried dumplings (牛肉锅贴): Specific to Nanjing; the beef filling distinguishes them from the pork-dominant versions in Shanghai. Buy from street stalls near universities.
Practical Tips
Getting around: Nanjing’s metro system is good; Purple Mountain sites require a taxi/DiDi combination (metro to Mausoleum Station, then DiDi for specific sites).
Purple Mountain coverage: Allow a full day for Purple Mountain (Xiaoling + Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum + Linggu Temple). Half-day is possible if you only choose one or two sites.
September and October: The plane trees that line major boulevards (planted during the Republican period in the 1920s–30s) turn golden in late October. Nanjing in late autumn, with the enormous plane trees dropping leaves, is one of the most atmospheric urban experiences in China.
Nanjing is the China that gets overlooked between the glamour of Shanghai and the imperial spectacle of Beijing. Spend two or three days here and you discover a city of extraordinary depth — simultaneously one of China’s most beautiful and most historically scarred places.
Last updated: May 2026