Nanjing

This past week-end Theresa and I took the train to Nanjing.  The next several postings will share some of the sights and experiences we found in the city.  This one is just to set the stage.

Nanjing is 130 miles or so to the West and North of Suzhou.  It is the capitol of Jiangsu province and the seat of the provincial government bureaucracy.  In that way, it is similar to the capitol of any state in the U.S.  Suzhou is also located in Jiangsu province, and so folks have to go up to Nanjing from time-to-time for regulatory discussions.  It is about 2.5 hours away by car.  By fast train, it is 1.5 hours.  It would be quicker but for the stops in other cities along the way.  Still, by train it is an easy week-end trip.  We left from Suzhou at 7:30 on Saturday and were back by 8:00 pm on Sunday.

With time, I'm beginning to realize there is a logic to the names of Chinese cities.  If you survived the previous post, then you may remember that Beijing (北京  in Chinese) means Northern capitol city.  Nanjing (南京 in Chinese) means Southern capitol city.  The "jing" part (京) specifically refers to a capitol city at the national level.  During China's history, Nanjing has been the seat of power for several emperors and the capitol for the Republic of China from 1912 until 1949.  It was the the birthplace of the Ming Dynasty, and served as it's capitol for a while until the emperors built the Forbidden City in Beijing.  There is no shortage of history in Nanjing.

As a side note, there are very few cities with "jing" or 京 as part of their name.  Beijing and Nanjing are the only that come to mind.  You will, however, find a ton of cities with "zhou" or 州 as part of their name....like Suzhou or Hangzhou or Guangzhou.  The "zhou" part signifies the center of a vassal kingdom, or the capitol of a state or prefecture.

The population of Nanjing is in the ballpark of 8 or 10 million people, which is comparable to Suzhou.  But the cities feel very different.  Fifty years ago, the population of Nanjing was probably 5 or 6 million where Suzhou's was probably 1 million or less.  Suzhou has grown by building skyscrapers and housing in the surrounding countryside while preserving the historic look and feel of the city center.  Suzhou is 18th century architecture surrounded by 21st century architecture.  Nanjing has grown by knocking down old buildings in the city center and replacing them with sky-scrapers and high-rise apartments.  Nanjing is 21st century architecture dropped onto an 18th century city plan.  It's a bit like a Boston or a Philadelphia in that way. 

On the Saturday when we arrived, it was misting rain.  The city was shrouded in a cloud of fog or pollution or both.  I wouldn't call Nanjing a "pretty" city and the grayness of Saturday did nothing to flatter it.  The top photo was taken on Saturday night from our 47th floor hotel room.  At this point, visibility was still poor....so there is not much skyline to see beyond the nearby towers.  Like every Chinese city, the buildings at night are like a Christmas light display.  That was the first bit of color we'd seen all day.  Sunday morning dawned without the rain, and eventually the sun burned off the gray shroud and gave us a nice day.

Anyway, stay tuned for more Nanjing stories in the next few posts.