Before I start working on my Fulbright grant, I'm spending a couple weeks in Nanjing on a teaching exchange. I've been to Nanjing once, briefly (like for a few days), so my impressions about this city are a bit incomplete. I thought I might say a few words by way of introduction here.
As a city which has been the capital of China on multiple occasions, and center for Confucian learning and examinations for centuries, Nanjing has seen a lot of history. It has been conquered, and beseiged. It was a major theatre of the Opium Wars, and it hosted negotiations for the Unequal Treaties which began China's "Century of Humiliation." And perhaps, most infamously, the city was the cite of horrific violence and death during the Nanjing Massacre (also sometimes called "The Rape of Nanking") when Japan invaded and conquered the city in 1937 during the Second Sino-Japanese War. Put shortly, this city bears some scars. But, remarkably, despite all the violence, and destruction, a lot of Nanjing's past is still intact. Take my host-institution, Nanjing University, for instance:
The campus features a lot of lovely buildings from China's Republican Period which avoided destruction or devastation during the war. Or take, for example, the city's Confucian Temple and Examination Complex, Fuzi Miao (夫子庙), which for years was the center of Confucian education for much of south China.
More recently, it's been central to the revival of Nanjing's tourist industry. Much of the space adjacent to the temple, and the former examination complex has been turned into shopping space. Now at Fuzi Miao, you can stroll right up to stalls outside the temple and buy any number of souvenir items, all of which can be found throughout China: calligraphy, paper-cuts, Chinese knots to tie to the rearview mirror of your car, etc. Further down the street, you can visit Starbucks, or KFC, or buy Nike shoes from a the factory outlet store. It's a center for retail, and commerce that Lonely Planet's China guidebook, described as "a particulary crowded and unattractive place," which had a "kitsch atmosphere." While I'm not nearly so cynical, walking around at Fuzi Miao (as I did yesterday) does lead to just feeling fatigued (that may also be the jetlag).
Most impressive, however, are the massive city walls that still encircle much of central Nanjing. Lots of China's city's boast of reconstructed city walls. Small sections of Beijing's wall still stands around town (though older locals lament the loss of what was, in its day, one of the most splendid sites in the city). Xi'an's old quarter is ringed by the walls that have been well preserved. Datong is actually in the process of rebuilding its walls. However, Nanjing is unrivaled. The city's is still encircled by much of the original wall built in the Ming dynasty. Unlike other cities, Nanjing's wall hasn't been reconstructed or overly maintained. The walls are massive, but they're also a bit overgrown, and in some places cracked and visibly aging. There, at the base of the massive ramparts, can one finally start to see the age of the city, and catch some of the traces of Nanjing's past.
So clearly, there's a lot to this city. I've not figured it all out yet, but I'm excited to get the chance. The next few weeks should be fun. Stay tuned for more from Nanjing in the coming days.