I made a mad dash one day visit to Nanjing, China recently via China's bullet D train from Shanghai, which took about 2 hours. The D train ticket cost 84 Yuan per person. The Nanjing train station is centrally located in the city center and on the southwest of the train station about 100 meters away is the Xuanwu Lake. A beautiful lake in the spring time which is good for a relaxing stroll and boats for hire are available if you choose to enjoy a boat ride on the lake before your train departs.

Since I was traveling with children, we decided to visit Nanjing Forest Zoo. The zoo comparatively to others is considered very small, a number of zoo exhibits were not available, for instance the elephants and the small animals section. I saw only a solitary panda, a rather young one enjoying her bamboo shoots meal. We also caught the large animal show, which consist of tigers, bears and dogs performing simple acts to an appreciative audience. The kids had a chance to take pictures with a tiger cub after the show for 15 Yuan. Rides and photo opportunities on a camel and a pony were also available. From my observation, the animals were in good condition, however their enclosures were rather small and the animal show could be done away with as it is more of a circus act rather than a zoo, which should actually show the animals in their natural surroundings.

The next day we had time for only one more attraction which is the Nanjing Massacre Memorial Hall, which was open to the public in December 2007. The new Memorial Hall has a modern architectural design, with cement walking paths surrounded by granite stones and a number of huge granite stone carvings of the sufferings of the Nanjing people during the massacre in 1937. The statues have expressions of suffering, hardship and sadness and the color scheme was basically gray, white and black which was deem appropriate for the memorial where the Chinese claims that about 300,000 Nanjing inhabitants were cruelly massacred by the Japanese.

Inside, the memorial hall had a silent, sombre and dark atmosphere, where the lighting was kept to a minimum, and in the background bells were heard tolling for the dead. There were war scenes of demolished buildings, executions, comfort womens buildings reenacted in the halls, there were many photos and testimonies by elderly survivors, exhibits like bombs, guns, knifes, uniforms, mass graves and skeletons were exhibited to remind the world that the massacre actually did happen. There was also one section were there was a library of collection of testimonies from the Nanjing inhabitants who remembers and recorded the atrocities committed by the Japanese.

On the external grounds on the memorial hall, a peace statue was erected and there was a section for wreaths to be presented to the dead. Overall it was an impressive memorial hall to remember the massacred and the suffering of the Chinese people and to remind us of the cruelty that humans are capable of in the absence of restrain in times of war and conflict.

The next day we had to catch the D train back to Shanghai and some day I would like to revisit some of the other attractions thats Nanjing has to offer.

Learn more about this author, ellemorena.
Click here to send author comments or questions.

---

Add your voice

Know something about Travel destinations: Nanjing, China?
We want to hear your view. Write now!