Nanjing

---

Hi All,

Well our old guidebook has started to show it's age. We managed to get lost today trying to find Nanjing museum and when we did find it it was undergoing some major reconstruction in other words demolished. We did stumble across some cool futuristic buildings. A space-age look shopping centre and Nanjing library.

The city is a little confusing as there are trees lining all the streets and it makes them all look the same. We started the day walking to the Zhonghua Gate from our hostel. It is the largest Ming dynasty defensive gate left in China and was constructed in around 1360. A very clever system of dropping doors was used to trap the invaders inside and then the defenders used archers to shoot down on them from above. It must have been an impressive site 650 years ago to have seen the size of the city wall and gates. The bricks to build it we're brought from different parts of the Chinese Empire. To ensure that the bricks were made to a standard all the bricks carry the makers', supervisors' and transporters' names so if any problems arose the Emperor could hold someone to account.

In the evening we took a walk to the Confucius temple. Nothing overly special here although the lights were pretty.

Enjoy the photos

Jah bless

---