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Hongshan Gate
The big entrance way to the Linggu Scenic Area.To the East of the city of Nanjing is a whole wooded area around Zhongshan mountain. This reserve has been set aside for walking, picnicking and for three of Nanjing's major sites: the Ming Tombs, Dr Sun Yat-sen's Mausoleum and the Linggu Temple.
Today, I decided to set off for the Linggu Temple - one of the great centres of modern, practising Buddhism in China. Since the bus system in Nanjing is impressively efficient (as, in fact, is most of the transport in China - one huge advantage of a Communist regime), I took the bus to the furthest point I could within the Zhongshan area and, with some trepidation, stepped out into sunlit forest.
I soon found out that my entrance ticket did not only including the Linggu temple itself but also the surrounding area with other assorted buildings and the next-door Dr Sun Yat-sen's mausoleum (about which, more later). This unexpected advantage meant that I was able to explore more than I had bargained for - and I spent almost all day in the lovely sunshine exploring the various scenic areas to which I had admittance.
My first stop, and the entrance to the Linggu Scenic
Area, was the Hongshan Gate, a brightly coloured affair which led on to a shady pathway towards the more modest Memorial Archway of the KIAs of the National Revolutionary Army. The Archway itself looked like most war memorials - plain, huge and carved with many names. Behind that, nestled further into the forest was the Beamless Hall. In a country that rarely builds in stone and, when it does so, invariably uses beams, the Beamless Hall is a bit of an architectural oddity of its time. As a European, sadly anaethetised to huge stone beamless structures, I had to have the unique qualities of this building pointed out to me.
The interior of the Beamless Hall contains a series of scenes with wax figures, showing the birth of the National Revolutionary Army - and the Brits sadly did not equit ourselves well in this particular chapter of history. Dr Sun Yat-sen - about whom, I am ashamed to admit, I knew absolutely nothing before my visit - was instrumental in setting up the army.
He was, for those, like me, not in the know, the father of modern China. He managed to get the educated Middle Classes to
The Memorial Archway of the National Revolutionary Army
Both this archway and the Beamless Hall after it told the history of the NRA - something I knew very little about. espouse a notion of rebellion so that civil unrest in China (in the mid 19th Century) was not confined to the peasants and workers. His notion of modern China was one that was free from British influence and domination, free from the yolk of opium and from any and all external influence. He wrote the basic principles governing the Chinese constitution and is a hallowed figure in China.
One step towards achieving this vision was by creating the National Revolutionary Army to unite China and fight separatism - and the Japanese. The NRA was the military arm of the Kuomintang (KMT) during its period of power. Among the tableaus in the Beamless Hall were scenes from the NRA's two greatest (and, from what I could tell, most bloody) expeditions: the Northen Expedition and the Second Sino-Japanese War. (Thank you wikipedia for supplementing my knowledge - it's rather difficult to get a whole picture when all you have to go on are the odd English caption or title.)
After the Beamless Hall, I went at last to the Linggu Temple itself. I was faintly surprised to find that the temple is bright orange - stupidly so, I suppose, given
that orange is the colour associated with Buddhist monks. The temple, as I said, is still an active place of worship, with resident monks. As such, I tried to take photographs sparingly and discreetly.
The temple was, from what I could tell - and, out of respect, I didn't explore much - a series of courtyards and buildings all leading one into the other. The exit, as ever, was the gift store - I still find the connection between Buddhism, which, to my knowledge, spurns earthly possessions, and gift stores perplexing.
Leaving the temple, I took a path just to the East up past the temple - I could see the living quarters where the monks obviously lived - I'm sure some of them had satellite TV... and past a tortoise and stele combination - much like the other tortoise that was placed just outside the Beamless Hall. The plaque said that no-one really knows why the tortoise is there. Both were impressively big, though.
I took a winding path uphill through the forest until I came to the Linggu Pavilion - a great nine-storey affair, which I stubbornly climbed in one go and then went down
slowly to admire the view over the surrounding forest and off towards the city.
Moving across and uphill again from the Linggu Pavilion, I tracked down the Guilin Stone House. 'House' is rather a generous term - it used to be a mansion, but was destroyed during the Japanese invasion (and I think all inhabitants were killed) and thereafter has been left as ruins to show respect. It was a lovely spot - isolated and beautiful stone carvings in the middle of the forest.
Most wonderfully of all - I was entirely alone, since few visitors to the area venture to the out-lying buildings, concentrating instead on the main sites (so as to see as much as possible). After days surrounded by crowds, it was a great feeling to finally have some solitude and freedom.
I eventually found my way back down from the stone house ruins and headed West towards the Sun Yat-sen Scenic Area. The centrepiece of this area is the Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum - a huge white and blue structure on the top of a hill - with 390 steps leading up to it (yes, I counted - so would you have in that
heat).
The Mausoleum proper contains just two rooms: the antichamber with a statue of Sun Yat-sen seated - very reminiscent of the famous Lincoln statue.... - and the crypt, with a sunken depression containing the coffin and effigy. Behind the mauseoleum is a "garden" area (so-called - in reality a concrete patio with scrubs and weeds) which explains about the competition to design the mausoleum and the removal of Sun Yat-sen's body from its original place of interment (in Beijing, I think, where he died) to his native Nanjing and up the mountain (those poor coffin bearers!) to the mausoleum.
The Mausoleum, however, is more than just the crypt on the mountain, and includes a Hall of Steles - with engravings of Sun Yat-sen's constitutional principles - and the Fraternity Archway, which is the entrance to the whole area. Each structure is placed lower down the mountainside, so the crypt is always visible, and the whole area is shaped like an alarm bell, which was supposed to symbolise Sun Yat-sen's fighting spirit.
Before reaching the mausoleum (and crowds in their hundreds - this is an extremely popular site for Chinese tourists) I took a detour to a
The Beamless Hall
I didn't at first realise that this was the great Beamless Hall - famous because Chinese architecture did not build without beams. Inside, it resembled a church, with a high arched roof made of stone. Stunning and unusual if you're Chinese, but easy to miss its significance (or rarity) if you're European. beautiful, blue pavilion - called, according to my map, the Yangzhi pavillion, which contained exhibitions on Sun Yat-sen's life, including a series of portraits of him at various stages of his life, copied from photographs taken at the time. There were also some lovely gardens and walkways around the pavilion, which I enjoyed exploring.
After climbing up to the mausoleum and down again, I decided to take a rest and headed for the Open Air Music Hall. This was a good choice, as the music hall is gorgeous - a green semi-circle, focused around a stone stage, with a large stone backdrop rising behind it, decked with white doves. In front of the stage was a series of fountains and at the top of the semi-circle for the audience is a covered walkway with benches. I found a bench and loitered happily for an hour or so, before dragging myself up and off back to the hostel.
Once back, I headed up to the fourth floor bar, where I met a group of four people who had been working together in Yangzhou and were now travelling for a bit before they went home to their various countries. I
unashamedly gatecrashed their group and we went out for some great street food at a park just opposite the hostel - a great atmosphere with lots of good fresh (and cheap) food and good company - before returning to the bar for some cocktails and games of snap. I noticed that I started to lose significantly more after the second cocktail...
Meeting this group really gave my spirits a boost, as I had been starting to feel a little down at yet another day sightseeing alone, and it was lovely to have some English-speaking company for the evening.
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