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From Magic City Morning Star R.P. BenDedek
Continuing a series of articles about Nanjing and Ningbo.
On April 4th 2008, (Qing Ming Festival), my friend Mingxing and I spent the day at Zhongshan Mountain National Park in Nanjing, one section of which contained the Ming Tomb. I have yet to write about Sun Yat-sen and the Linggu Temple.
The gate of the Palace was called "Shen Shen Rong Guang Men" (Genius Gate). After the Manchu Troop's recovery of the Heavenly Capital in 1864, it was demolished, and the outer gate of the Liangjiang Governorgeneral's Yamen was rebuilt.
The present Western style reinforced concrete gate tower was built by the Nationalist Government in 1929.
I only managed to take photographs of two of them, and my photographic skills are so poor, that I can not even read the text below the photo of the Heavenly King.
Moving West of the National Government
Before the Japanese Troop occupied Nanjing, Chairman of the National Government led his government and ministers to Chongqing in November 1937. That first building is quite deceptive, because you can't possibly imagine just how far you are going to end up travelling as you follow corridor after corridor of rooms.
For Instance Thomas Reilly argues that the Taiping faith, although kindled by Protestant sources, developed into a dynamic new Chinese religion whose conception of its sovereign deity challenged the legitimacy of the Chinese empire. Official Text in one Heavenly Kingdom Buildings. In 1851 Being 39, Hong Xiuquan announced uprising and the establishment of a new state. the Taiping Tianquo (Heavenly Kingdom of Taipiing), his troops were named as Taiping Army on 11th March in Township of Wuxuan Dongxiang. The Taiping Army occupied Yong'an (now Mengshan County) in September and conferred the titles of the Eastern King. Westarn King. Soutnarn King. Northarn King, and Wing King upon Yang Xiuquan. Xiao Chaogui, Feng Yunshan, Wei Changhui and Shi Dakai, respectively. The whole complex is a composite construction of many different buildings over a long period of time. Once you pass these paintings, there is a hallway that seems to go on forever. On either side of it are rooms full of interesting memorabilia and historical information. The trick to seeing it all is to travel a circular route. You take the door on the left and enter that room, which then connects to the next and the next until finally you exit opposite a room on the other side of the hallway. You then enter that and work your way back to the exit opposite the first room you entered. After a while howeveer, you tend to feel a little lost. Eventually you enter open areas and then more buildings, one of which is the building which housed Chiang Kaishek's offices.
This western-style building was erected in 1917, when Feng Guozhang was the Jiangsu Military Governor. It was used as a reception room before 1938. After the Nationalists returned from Chongqing and established the Presidential Government, it was used as a reception room for foreign guests. Here Chiang Kai-shek received important foreign guests, such as G.C. (Marshall, J.L. Stuart, A. Wedemeyer et al).
The three southern exposure rooms of this building were the office of Lin Sen. Chairman of the National Government. The official building was occupied by the Japanese puppet authorities during the Anti-Japanese War. On 19 May 1948, Chiang Kaishek was elected president and it was called president's office.
It was the Chairman's Reception Room of the Nationalist Govement before 19 May 1948, and was called "presidential reception room" when Chiang Kaishek was electde president. Chiang Kai-shek and Li Zongren, the Acting President, often received important guests here. Chiang Kai-shek held talks with Zhou Enlai here on 1 July 1946. Li Zongren exchanged views here with Zhang Zhizhong et all, the delegates of the BeiPing Peace Negotiations at 8 p.m. on 19 March 1949.
Leaving the building housing Chiang Kaishek's offices, we walked along this walkway. There were a couple of workman working on the roof of it, and one was a very young man who figured that this foreigner would not understand his Chinese. Ha! I caught him out! I gave him a wave, took his photo, told him I was actually Chinese and after watching him nearly fall off the roof in laughter, went on my way. I know! I am a pain at the best of times!
Mingxing and I got to this point and I wanted to take a few photos but there were a few people climbing over the rocks in the pond. So I held off for a few minutes. When I finished, I turned around to discover that Mingxing was gone. He saw a sign indicating a WC and whizzed off - excuse the pun. When he came back he couldn't see me. Well I had stayed in the area but didn't see him either. After waiting for him for 15 minutes I decided to just keep exploring. After about 30 minutes I returned to this spot and he still was not there. As I headed back the way I came I ran into him. It was a scary ordeal. I had no idea where I was or where I would end up and so had no idea how to get back to the hotel. Ah! Such are the joys of living in China. Mingxing on the little bridge beside the Secret Room of the Heavenly King. Inside there is a sign which reads ... 'Traces of some former major civil officials of the Nanjing provisional [Govt?]' Text at Secret Room
This building was erected in 1870 (the late Qing Dynasty). It was used as the secret room of the Heavenly Dynasty Palace of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. After the Republic of China was established in 1912. President Sun Yat-sen sometimes worked and received guests here, so it has also been called the "Zhong Shan Hall". After we finished with those buildings we were trying to find our way out of the complex when we came to a few small buildings, one of which was an Ancestral Hall. Ancestral Halls were places where clansmen offered sacrifices to their ancestors and also great men of both ancient and more recent times.
The building of memorial temples and ancestral halls was very popular during the Qing Dynasty. Leaving the Ancestral Halls, we found ourselves walking through a series of old style buildings that had in times past, housed many things including people and horses. (Some of those photos you can find in Part 2 of the Kingscalendar version of this article.) I was really exhausted and feeling sorry for myself, when I came across something that made me count my blessings.
Can you imagine walking in these? We had walked all around the Walking Street, the Confucius Temple area, and the Yingtian Imperial Examination Site, and then walked more miles at the Presidential Palace. My feet were killing me, and they were in durable but soft boots. How Chinese women put up with the torture involved in having bound feet I will never know. Mingxing's Granny once told me that she had had bound feet for several years as a child. She had endured it just long enough to stunt their growth. Well that brings me to the end of this little trip. The Kingscalendar Version of this article contains about 45 photographs all of which are larger than those able to be viewed in this file. You can find Part 1 of that article Here. In due course I will introduce you to Chiang Kaishek's hometown at Ningbo, his honeymoon cottage, and several other sites including his mother's grave. Until then, have a great life! R.P.BenDedek
Email: rpbendedek@hotmail.com
Photographic Stories from China at Magic City "The King's Calendar" is a chronological study of the historical books of the Bible (Kings and Chronicles), Josephus, Seder Olam Rabbah, and the (Essene) Damascus Document of The Dead Sea Scrolls. © Copyright 2002-2008 by Magic City Morning Star |
