Nanjing 南京

About Nanjing

Together they connect urban defence, republican government and imperial burial. Choose one central-city pairing before adding the Purple Mountain sites, which form a separate larger excursion. The Qinhuai River and Xuanwu Lake provide contrasting waterside settings between museum and monument visits, rather than requiring every major attraction in a single circuit.

Nanjing's city wall was built in the early Ming dynasty as four concentric rings: a palace city, an imperial city, an inner city (内城) and an outer wall (外郭). The outer wall, mostly rammed earth with about 18 gates, has since disappeared, surviving only in place names. The inner wall, built of rammed earth faced with brick, followed the terrain in an irregular shape rather than the traditional square plan, and originally had 13 gates.

The inner wall runs by Zhongshan (钟山) to the east, Shitou (石头) to the west, the Qinhuai River to the south and Houhu (后湖) to the north, with a total circumference of 35.267 kilometres, of which about 25 kilometres survive largely intact, the longest existing ancient city wall in the world. Of the 13 original gates, only Julebao Gate (聚宝门, now Zhonghua Gate), Shicheng Gate (石城门, now Hanxi Gate), Shence Gate (神策门, now Heping Gate) and Qingliang Gate (清凉门) remain.

The wall was listed as a Major Historical and Cultural Site Protected at the National Level (全国重点文物保护单位) in January 1988. Systematic management began in the late 1970s, and the Nanjing City Wall Management Centre now oversees the surviving remains; the Nanjing Ming City Wall History Museum opened in May 1998.

What to look for

• The surviving Ming city wall makes the former capital’s defensive scale tangible.
• The Presidential Palace combines garden spaces with buildings associated with republican government.

The surrounding area

The provincial capital suits museums and major historical sites; reserve time for different districts instead of treating it as one walking circuit.

Location & getting there

Getting to Nanjing

Check whether the booked train arrives at Nanjing Station, beside the northern shore of Xuanwu Lake, or Nanjing South Station. Both connect with the city’s metro; choose the onward journey for the actual station printed on the ticket.