At a mere 5.5 million people, Nanjing is a lovable little Chinese village!

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Category:
On the Road from China

Date:
Monday, 19th November 2007

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Nanjing. I don't know how we picked it, but here we are! The Chinese railways are divided into two "types" (there is no "class" in China, of course...) There are hard seats and soft seats. Now the hard seats aren't necessarily hard, but the soft seats are like flying business class. The train we were on was immaculate - a new one that had probably only been in service for a year or two. The chairs reclined almost 90 degrees as the train sped out of Shanghai at 250 km/h. We were in Nanjing, nee Nanking, in about 2 and a half hours, which was barely enough time to enjoy the lounging!
 
Nanjing is a university town these days, although it served as the capital of China twice in its history. The Taiping revolutionaries captured it from the Qing in the 19th century and used the old Ming palace as the headquarters for their Heavenly Kingdom. After the fall of the Qing, the Kuomintang used it as their capital as well - until Mao came to town. We're due to meet up with some professors from the university here, but before that, we take a little tour around town and try to find a Chinese buddy to help us with our quest (and ordering our dinners...)
 

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