On the Return Road

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Classes are over and I've begun a roundabout trip back to Shanghai and, ultimately, SF.

The University has taken us on a two night trip with Nanjing the major stop and Shanghai the final destination.

Nanjing has been the capital of China several times over the past centuries, including in 1368 when it was the center of power under the Ming Dynasty, which built a wall around the city. More recently, Nanjing became the capital under Chiang Kai-shek's Nationalist government in 1927 and ultimately the capital of China with the overthrow of the emperor then ruling in Beijing in 1928.

Now a city of about 7 Million, Nanjing may be best known by what has come to be called the Nanjing Massacre or the Rape of Nanjing. It was the fact that the city was the capital of China at the time Japan invaded in 1931 that made the city a primary target. After breaking through the city walls in 1938, the Japanese army proceeded to brutally rape and murder remaining Chinese troops and civilians in what became the focus of an international war crimes trial after the end of the war. The graphic Massacre Memorial Museum is both a detailed history of Nanjing's resistance to the Japanese invasion and the subsequent result of over 350,000 dead at the hands of the Japanese as well as a memorial to those killed. The 1.5 hours we spent there was difficult and moving, and ultimately insufficient to see the entire museum and memorial.

Nanjing is also the home to the mausoleum of the first Ming Emperor, completed in 1431, sits on a hill in an area that is now a major tourist center, including Sun Yat-sen's Mausoleum. The "Ming Tomb," as it is sometimes called, covers a large area with various gates. The former emperor might be turning in his grave, as most of the buildings that are part of the mausoleum are now souvenir shops.

There was also a stop in the Nanjing Museum, which contains a very large collection of artifacts from the province's long history and is easily as impressive as the Shanghai Museum, but more manageable size-wise.

The evening was spent exploring the tourist area around the Confucius Temple.

The following and final day of the trip was to a lake and resort area near Nanjing for a boat ride and zip lining before an early morning bus ride back to Shanghai. A few days there before a flight back home.

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