Nanjing - China 1988

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After two full days in bustling Shanghai, my two friends and I took the train to tranquil Nanjing. The journey in 1988 was five hours. It's much less today on China's new superhighways. We were hosted by a Chinese professor and his family at Nanjing Normal University. We also visited other Chinese friends who worked at the Nanjing Aeronautical Institute.

A former capital, Nanjing has both the relaxed atmosphere of a southern city and the monuments of imperial power. We took the time to stroll through Xuanwu Lake Park and also visited the mansion of Sun Yat-sen. One afternoon I walked to the midway point of the Yangtze River Bridge, which is over 6 km long.

We spent a whole day at Zhongshan Mountain, also known as Purple Mountain. This park outside Nanjing is home to several important sites, including Linggu Temple, the Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum and the Ming Xiaoling Mausoleum.