Motykas in Asia 2018 Part 2 - Nanjing City Wall and Gate of China

The ancient city of Nanjing was the capital city of various dynasties and governments all the way from AD 202, on and off until 1945. It has a lot of history and it has its own city wall built by the first emperor of the Ming Dynasty. His mausoleum is located in the Purple Mountain area of Nanjing.

I originally wanted to visit the Purple Mountain on the second day to see Dr. Sun Yat Sen's Mausoleum amongst other things, but cancelled our plans due to the rain. Instead, we went to the Gate of China and see the southern part of Nanjing City Wall.

We took the metro from the station near our hotel to Zhonghuamen station. From the station we walked towards the Gate of China. Careful, for some reason Google Maps doesn't show this station in their navigation.

Metro Station

Zhonghuamen Station

Crossing Qinhuai River

After you cross the bridge over Qinhuai River, just cross the street straight ahead and there will be a ticket counter for the Gate of China. We paid RMB 50 per person but it was free for Miss Kiki.

Despite the drizzles and DH's objections, I pulled our Olympus out, wore it around my neck and covered it with my bag. There were so many pictures to be taken and the unfriendly weather worked in my favour... there were no one else there except a group tour of about 10 people.

First we stopped and admired the door. DH was wondering about the golden nodules on the red and at that time I had no idea. Later on I found out from my friend and this is what she said...

[the nodules] shows the status of the family who lived in the house. 9x9 is reserved for kings, only in palaces or their private residences (summer/winter palaces). 8x8 means highest ranking officials. Also dragons on the gate/roofs reserved for palaces. Only certain households that are favored by kings may have dragon (but it’s a different one than the ones used by kings)

So now we know.... Sure enough, these gates were 9x9

Did you count the nodules?

Parallel to the main entrance hallway, there were other halls like this one below. It used to be utilised as hiding area for the soldiers when they are ready to attack. Now it is nicely decorated with lights and music.

The ceiling

In between the gates there are parks and many stairs that lead up to the wall. The colours were beautiful!

We climbed up the stairs and walked on the wall. We saw the path that the horses would take going up, and I was impressed with how they arranged the bricks so the hoofs (and my shoes) won't slide.

On the upper level in the wall there were several rooms, one of them had an exhibit of historical pictures of the wall. Another room had silver crafts for sale. We looked around and stayed until dusk. They turned the lights and lanterns on around the wall. It was very nice!

Can you spot DH waving?

We left the gate and walked back to Zhonghuamen Station... The Olympus battery went low (I forgot to charge it) and the rest of these pictures were taken with a phone.