Nanjing, several times China's capital, and today metropolis of 8 million people, has a great historical feel in its centre. A few areas look really how one would imagine a Chinese former capital to be. But it has entered the 21st century firmly. Nanjing's history is amongst the most dramatic of all cities of China, if not the entire planet. During the China-Japan war in 1930s, the Chinese government not only had abandoned the citizens, it actually had locked them up in the city by sealing all but the Xiaguan Gate. The victimisation of civilians by their own government on such scale had never happened before and had not happen since. Furthermore, the Japanese army had captured Nanjing and, since it had been acceptable by the Japanese warfare standards, the soldiers had beastially raped thousands of women aged between 11 and 76.
I landed here late, after sunset. And the city by night dazzled me with the lights of the Fuzimiao district, traditional architecture, the canal and bridges, and little boats that cruised around; for ¥60 (30 min, max 5 people) by the way.
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