Nanjing - the Southern Capital, as opposed to Beijing - the Northern Capital - combines antiquity and modernity with a panache. This happy marriage is perhaps best epitomised by the ... Scenic Spot - a tiny if nicely laid out park, with fine Ming-style tea pavilion-come restaurant, set amidst the looming skyscrapers of Beijing Road.
Nanjing's modern avenues are broad, clean and nicely laid out, with a very human-friendly atmosphere rare in world's big cities. The shiny clean ultra-modern metro - if still with only one line - beats mass transit systems of most Western cities.
City's entertainment hub - the Fuzimiao Area - is clearly geared towards tourists with gilded dragon-shaped boats and scores of souvenir shops. It is, however, a very lovely place to hang around as it is in authentic Ming-style quarters full of very picturesque sights. Sample a piece from each of the food stalls dealing in tasty Chinese titbits and you will not need a dinner.
One of the most dramatic points of Nanjing's turbulent history is presented just around the corner in the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom History Museum. The Taiping rebellion - one of the deadliest conflicts in human history - was a reaction to China's humiliation by Western powers in the mid-19th century. Peasant rebels with Utopian ideology aimed at creating an egalitarian society only to create their own elaborate hierarchy an get bogged down in inner strife for power. Arguably, it was world's first Socialist state and Nanjing was its capital.
Less known is the fact that until 2002 Nanjing was also the official - if on paper only - capital of Taiwan, the Republic of China. When the Kuomintang Government had to escape to Taiwan, they never left the hope of coming back with vengeance and thus Taipei was regarded as only the provisional capital.
The much touted Xuanwu Lake area is a sprawling city park set on five connected islands encircled by the city walls - world's longest. It offers great views of Nanjing's modern skyline across the water but apart from a few historic rocks is of little interest for a foreign visitor.
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