Nanjing Massacre Museum

So, I almost hesitate to put this up here, but I think it needs to be seen. One of our stops in Nanjing was the Massacre Museum, which is a memorial to the people of Nanjing for the atrocities committed by the Japanese army in 1937. Sadly, not many people know about this in the West, but it is a type of focal point here in the East when it come to Military history and culture. 

Link * http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nanking_Massacre *

Essentially this incident involved the Japanese Military of the 1930's marching through China. They attempted to overtake the country city by city. As a result the military effects on Nanjing were devastating. It is estimated  by the Chinese that 300k people were murdered in a six-week period. However, this number is heavily contested by the Japanese who say that it should be around 200,000. 

Below: Grave-site uncovered several decades later. 

Now there is a very fitting memorial to these atrocities in Nanjing. The local Government has done quite a job erecting a suitable museum/memorial to this piece of the past. 

Below: Reflection chamber at the end of the tour. 

Above: a fitting poem in Mandarin *you're just going to have to trust me on this one*

Below: at the end of the tour there is a statue promoting liberty and a fresh start. 

Now, however the city seems to be in a completely different state. Development has been booming and the city of Nanjing has seen its fair share of growth. Being one of China's larger cities means that there is a nice mix of convenience and history in this southern metropolis

Back to Beijing. So I mentioned the bullet trains before. Here is a close up of our dependable mode of transport. I have really grown accustomed to using these high speed trains. The standard speed is a smooth 300 K/hr. (~190 m/hr). Actually a new train from Beijing to Shanghai is opening this June. It will cut the trip from 11 hours by normal high-speed train down to 4 hours. It sounds incredible

*I didn't mean to bum you guys out with the sad history,but I think it is worth looking into. Westerners don't know enough about Eastern culture and their identity.

Nanjing - Sun Yat-sen - Ming Dynasty Temples

Nanjing is an ancient city is East-Central China. It almost seems silly to introduce the city on such an informal blog post such as this one, but it was quite an experience and I would be amiss to not point out some of the finer attractions of the city. However, I still find it difficult to encapsulate one of the most historic and pivotal cities in all of China. Why is it pivotal you ask, that answer is wrapped up in a millennia of Chinese history. For instance, the very name: NanJing 南京 means "South Capital". That is to say that this city used to be the center of the entire country during past dynasties. 

However, the city is not so much the center of national attention nowadays. Don't get me wrong the city is still huge with ? million people living in and around the metropolis, but practically speaking the national interest is still focused on Shanghai or Beijing. Either way is fine with me. I happen to enjoy the more laid-back atmosphere of Nanjing, especially the history. 

The Sun Yat-sen Memorial is dedicated to one of the revolutionaries of China. He was known as a doctor, revolutionary and political thinker. It is an interesting story so here is a link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sun_Yat-sen

Chinese have some awful fascination with creating the biggest staircases possible. First the Great Wall, now the Sun Yat-sen palace. 

There was quite a spectacular view from the top of the memorial. The old historical sites are located on a mountain in the northeast part of the city, so even though there are millions of people around, it still felt refreshing to get out and see some natural surroundings. 

The Ming Dynasty Palaces (in red) were also a great feature of Nanjing. These empirial grounds ruled over not only the city but a large portion of ancient china. I'm not a historian so here is another link. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ming_Dynasty

Ok, I found this to be a hilariously awkward and ridiculous situation. I was walking up to the Ming palace and was suddenly ambushed by this group of students from a university in Nanjing. All they wanted-- a picture with the American. I thought I would oblige them. I couldn't help but laugh. 

HangZhou-杭州

Simply put, Hangzhou is suprisingly beatiful. I was actually really caught off guard when I arrived. I was not expecting such a scenic spot in the middle of China. Well that isn't entirely true, but after being surrounded by the same grey buildings for months it was a pleasant surprise to find a city like Hangzhou.

The city is a 45 minute train ride from Shanghai, that is if you use the High Speed train option. Otherwise it is something like a couple hours. In either case it is definitely worth a day trip or even a couple days. 

Succinctly, the city grew up around "West Lake" which is a very large body of water that has turned into a popular scenic attraction for both foreigners and mainlanders. While the day we were there was not really clear, nor sunny, it was certainly worth it. 

It is interesting to note that while the local government has taken great lengths to preserve and foster the natural forest-like feel around the lake, just a mile away is the actual city center of Hangzhou with all of its business buildings and the like. Basically, as soon as you leave the lake the city looks just like any other major city in China. 

For your reference:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hangzhou

We actually only had an afternoon in the city, which limited our options of tourism. The rest of the guys (roommate and other students) thought of a way around this problem-- tour the city on 3 seat tandem bikes!! So we did. Just imagine, two 3 seater tandem bikes being driven by Americans through the busy streets of an ancient Chinese city. Yep it WAS  that awkward, and I am pretty sure we almost hit a bus a couple times. 

And remember if you ever drive tandem bikes through a Chinese city it is ALWAYS proper to bring along as many cartoon balloons as possible. It adds to the experience. 

Below: the train station in Hangzhou on the way back. The place was packed and this seems to be the norm around here. 

On the street and making the rounds

Shanghai is huge, but completely different from most large cities in China. Where Beijing is planned on a massive scale and is spread out along 6 ring roads, Shanghai is dense compact and is the more preferable travel city for foot-traffic. Due to the old district by the Bund and the close courtyards of most Chinese buildings, the new Shanghai has some really compelling sights to see just by walking around. 

Aside from the Bund, the other must see district of this city is Nanjing Rd. Nope, it is not Nanjing the city, but just a road. Apparently, every city here includes every other city in China as a street name. Nanjing Rd. is a Pedestrian only thoroughfare and is home to the tourist/upscale/glitzy part of the city. That means that there are plenty of stores to visit and quite a lot to do. It is about a Kilometer long, but is definitely worth multiple trips down the street. 

In addition to the tourist parts of the city their were also just normal alleyways that housed millions of Shanghai citizens. While the tourists are doing their thing, these guys are just going about their daily lives like it is no big deal. Actually I kind of prefer these simple alleyways to all of the lights of Nanjing Rd. 

This revamped old Chinese courtyard (?) was also a large tourist destination in the city. It had everything including multiple Dairy Queens, McD's and Starbucks. It was definitely for the tourist crowd as the prices were astronomical for the normal Chinese citizen, but it was fun to walk around. 

We randomly ran into these "Marine" street perfomers on Nanjing road. I don't know what they were doing in China with all of their instruments, but they drew quite a crowd of chinese tourists. They were pretty good and had a thing for old jazz and funk. go figure.  

So Nanjing Rd. at night is a different experience all together. All of the storefronts are lit up and the streets are  way crowded. It is probably the best time to walk around because for some unknown reason it is really easy to get caught up in the feel of the night. But, I found it really annoying because of the hawkers. That is to say that if you go walking on Nanjing Rd. and look like a westerners dozens of hawkers will come up to you asking you to buy whatever they have like shoes, fake-handbags, and gimmicky toys. It is cool for the first five times, and then after that you want to start practicing your really rude mandarin accent. Ha!

We stayed in Blue Mountain hostel right in the middle of the city. It was pretty cheap, $8 a night, and was in good shape as far as I was concerned. This was our lounge area. 

And finally the train station. This is were we left for our next two cities. I will say this: if you are traveling in China. Be sure to take the trains, they are amazing. 

Shanghai 上海 - The Bund 外滩

Well, hello there everyone. This past Chinese labor day we took a trip to Shanghai, Nanjing, and Hanzhou, all of which are located in southern China. It was a 5 day trip that was packed with anything and everything we could do in these cities. For me, there are almost too many things to tell. I really felt like I was able to get a new perspective on China. Actually I am still trying to figure this place out, so I suppose this blog has been really instrumental in that regard. 

So here is the plan. There is way too much to talk about in one blog post. I am going to post a couple new posts every so often about different subjects or parts of the city(ies). So lets start out with the most famous part of Shanghai -                         The Bund-.

 There is a long history to Shanghai, and any attempt here to commentate on the history of this former British outpost would be foolhardy. But I can tell you about my experience. This section of Shanghai is a very peculiar corner of China. It is a strange juxtaposition between an old chinese town, british imperialism, and a new and rapid growing form of chinese capitalism. So it is nothing short of confusing. Well in any case the easiest way to understand this is to look at the buildings along the Bund. Most of these building above are either leftovers from the Western occupation or new buildings from the Chinese economic boom. In short, from one spot you can look around and feel like you are in a very chinese metropolitan city, then all it takes is a quick turn around to feel like you are in the middle of London. 

 Essentially Shanghai serves as the Finance and Economics hub of China. Beijing is more of a political and cultural center, whereas Shanghai can be just about anything else. It is the most populous city on the Mainland 23 mil+ and has seen a ridiculous amount of development over the past 50 years. Thus, most of these huge buildings are national banks, Multinational Corporations, or state-owned enterprises. 

Here is wikipedia. Have a look around, the history IS pretty neat:

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bund

 I had a great chance to go on a boat cruise in the middle of the Huangpu river 黄浦江. It cuts right through Shanghai and serves as a boundary of sorts. To the east is the more financial district with the impressive skyline and needle, and to the west is the old town and the more densely packed cityscape. 

 For some wierd reason we had to take the "coco club" boat out on the river tour. Don't ask me why, I don't have any idea either.