Nanjing Massacre Museum - Foreground structure shows three vertical pillars and 5 metal rings at the top, signifying the 300 000 who died. Below the rings hangs the bell which reminds people of the importance of peace. Right background shows a broken wall which signifies the fall of Nanjing, following the breach of the Zhonghua Gate by the invading Japanese forces. The number on the top left shows the death toll of the entire invasion. The right hand foreground shows a carpet of white pebbles, which signifies the bones of those dead. In fact, the entire museum is built on a massacre ground and the visitors are indeed walking on the skeletons of the dead. 

Light decor in the restaurant where we had breakfast. It looked so Russian, if you ask me. 

View from my hotel room 

The ingredients that go into a pot of dog meat hotpot. 

We still ordered one of these fresh water lake crabs for tasting. It was a little off season and the crab was still good.  

Diners at this seafood restaurant were faced with a myriad of choices. Unfortunately, we were having set meal. 

Once we finished visiting, the sky darkened considerably. 

The ceiling above Sun Yat Sen's grave. It is actually Taiwan's flag, or more correctly, the revoluntionaries' flag. Very apt. 

Sun Yat Sen's mausoleum. He's buried beneath but his widow has commissioned this white marble carving of his casket and his life-sized body so that all who visit can have a look at the man who had once changed China's history. 

I found out that many things were ruined for the places I visited on this trip. Either the Japanese or the Cultural Revolution Red Guards did it. So sad. 

Looking down from the watch platform of Zhonghua Gate 

The entrance to the fortress consists of 4 gates and 3 inner chambers. Using this layout, enemies can be stopped at each gate and taken out. Those who make it past the first gate are then trapped in the inner chambers for the guarding soldiers to fight. By the time the fortress is breached, many opposing soldiers would have been killed. The Japanese learned this. And when they finally broke through and took over Nanjing, the conducted the Nanjing Massacre. 

Zhonghua Gate  

Zhonghua Gate, means Chinese gate, was the biggest and most splendid city gate of Nanjing city wall in the Ming dynasty(1368-1644). The gate was built from 1366 to 1386 and originally named Gate of Gathering Treasure, since legend says in the construction, the wall collapsed again and again before a Box of Gathering Treasure was buried under. The whole structure was built with huge bricks and special cement made from lime, tung oil and sticky rice juice, extraordinarily strong.

The delicately designed gate has four archways, and three trap cities which were the enclosed vacant lots between the archways. On the gate, there are 27 hiding caves where more than 3,000 soldiers can ambush in wartime. The biggest one is 44.34 meters high, 6.84 meters wide. Every archway has a wooden gate, and in addition an iron gate, which would be put down from top of the city in case of the wooden one was broken through. Then those enemy soldiers entrapped in the trap city would be cleaned by the ambush with ease. On the top of the tower, there used to be a watchtower and other structures.

Masons in the past who made stones for the Zhonghua Gate were reqired to state the name of their company on the bricks. Substandard bricks were returned to them. 

Food glorious food, or what's left. It was 2.25 pm and we were hungry.
 

New condominums in Nanjing city  

Duck cooked in brine - A Nanjing specialty 

More housing apartments. My idea of a quaint, old fashioned city is quashed by now. 

A highway interchage in Nanjing.
 

Weather panel at the toll booth outside airport area. The panel tells you the weather, the wind strength and direction and the temperature range. 

Facade of Nanjing Airport 

The sloping conveyor belt in Nanjing Airport. The raised barrier in the middle opposite the baggage exit point stops luggages from dropping on the feet of "kiasu" passengers who will flock at there.  

The plane that brought me from Singapore Changi to Nanjing. 

The customs clearance lanes 

My Itinerary

My Itinerary

My itinerary:

16 Dec - Singapore/Nanjing
17 Dec - Nanjing/Wuxi
18 Dec - Wuxi/Suzhou
19 Dec - Suzhou/Hangzhou
20 Dec - Hangzhou/Shaoxing
21 Dec - Shaoxing
22 Dec - Shaoxing/Mt Yandang
23 Dec - Mt Yandang/Xitang
24 Dec - Xitang/Shanghai
25 Dec - Shanghai
26 Dec - Singapore

This is actually a culture and history tour. I can already hear my travelling companion groaning about the nth famous house that I'm visiting. Hey! I'm going to see Mao Zedong's Former Residence, Song Qingling's (of the famous Song sisters) Former Residence among others. I'll be seeing temples and lakes as well.

Actually, this should not be a surprise. There is a cute little couplet that the Chinese recite to describe Singapore tourists to China:

Shang che shui jiao (Get on the bus and sleep)
Xia che niao niao (Get off the bus and pee).

Singaporeans complete the poem by adding another couplet, to describe the pathetic nature of Chinese tourism:

Bu shi kan miao (If we are not seeing temples)
Jiu shi mai yao (Then we are (conned into) buying medicines)

So, this is China in a nutshell. Tibet was the same. But if you look at the developments of the Asian Dragon for the past 5000 years, then you would really see it in a vastly different light.

I'll end with this - it's symbolic in the sense that our memories are like reflections in a pool...