Chicken Fingers

The other day I went to have lunch with my friend Nela, who got me into teaching English at that kindergarten. We went out to a hotpot (huoguo 火锅) restaurant nearby campus and - since we were in a rush - decided to order a pre-made dish of chicken with some mixed vegetables. The dish was very good right up until we discovered that the cook had, indeed, used all of the bird:

Nela was especially disgusted by this delightful discovery:

Nela and I debated whether or not to give the literal 'chicken fingers' a taste, but eventually decided to leave them uneaten in the bowl, silently judging the two of us as we hurriedly finished off the rest of the hot pot.

Until next time!

Nanjing, Part 4: Memorial to a Massacre

Dear reader, please be sure to read part 1, part 2, and part 3 before continuing!

With the presidential palace fully explored, I caught a cab to the final attraction I wanted to see in Nanjing, "The Memorial to the Victims of the Nanjing Massacre" (南京大屠杀纪念馆). 

In the west, this event is often called 'The Rape of Nanking,' which was a 6-week long period of mass murder and rape of Chinese civilians by Japanese soldiers after the the Japanese army captured Nanjing on December 13, 1937. 

Estimates of the actual number of casualties vary anywhere from 20,000-300,000, and remains an extremely contentious political issue for Chinese-Japanese relations. The Chinese government insists that the number is 300,000, and you can see the number on countless walls throughout the memorial.

There was an extensive underground museum on the memorial grounds, which went into great detail about the massacre and the context surrounding it. The museum was divided into several sections, which included  sections about the 'imperialist powers' - which mostly meant Japan, individuals involved in the massacre, and even a section solely devoted to the still nasty issue of 'comfort women.' Taking photographs was not allowed in the museum, and there were guards all over the place to enforce that, so I had to clandestinely take photos where I could.

There were lots of little nooks and crannies throughout the museum devoted solely to single survivors, where a recorded interview about their experiences played on a constant loop - though only in Chinese and without any subtitles.

"Do not forget the experiences of the past, for they shall guide you in the future"

An interesting theme the museum kept up with was the need for 'peace' surrounding the whole idea of the massacre, and that people should take the massacre as a lesson to better both themselves and humanity. I found this rather ironic considering how often the Chinese government uses the Nanjing Massacre as a political tool in both domestic politics and in their relations with Japan.

The memorial did an outstanding job of enforcing a mood onto its visitors. In addition to the guards I mentioned above that stopped people from taking photos in the museum, there was also a constant 'funeral chorus' being pumped in through speakers that could be heard everywhere around the memorial, as well as signs all over the place that kept reminding you to be quiet and respectful.

Despite the heavy-handed - and often annoying - enforcing of mood, the entire memorial was remarkably well-done, and well worth the trip and the free-entrance cost.

Thoroughly explored out, I caught a cab to Nanjing South Station (南京南站), and was on my way back to Suzhou.

When I got back to the university, I ran into one of the university guards I'd befriended, and mentioned that I'd been touring Nanjing that day. As it turns out, Nanjing was his hometown, and he eagerly talked with me about the places I'd been on my extremely long - but extremely entertaining - day in Nanjing. 

Until next time!

Nanjing, Part 3: The Palace of Many Rulers

Dear reader, please be sure to read part 1 and part 2 before continuing!

With my visiting of both Sun Yat-sen's mausoleum and the Ming Filial Tombs at an end, I spent the next few minutes leisurely walking around the nature-filled avenues of Sun Yat-sen National Park in search of a taxi to take me to my next destination, "The Presidential Palace" (总统府).

The scenery was exceptional, so I wasn't in any rush to leave

It wasn't long before I caught a taxi, and twenty minutes later I saw my first view of the palace, which didn't leave me very optimistic about how it would be on the inside:

Once inside the compound, however, the palace did an outstanding job of showing off its long and colourful history.

A man dressed up as Chiang Kai-shek (蒋介石), who would allow you take your photo with him for 60RMB

You see, dear reader, the palace originally started as the administrative compound for all of south-eastern China during the Qing Dynasty (清代，1644-1912), the most populous and rich area in all of China. 

Since the emperor lived far away to the north in Beijing (北京), the local officials who administered from the compound were, therefore, some of the most powerful men in China.

The administrative compound became an actual palace, however, during the time of the Taiping Rebellion and the brief establishment of the Heavenly Kingdom of Great Peace (太平天国, 1850-1864). 

The leader of the Taiping, a man named Hong Xiuquan (洪秀全, 1814-1864), was a failed scholar who believed he was the brother of Jesus Christ, and asserted that it was his duty to overthrow the Qing Dynasty and convert all of China to his version of Christianity.

This room was where Hong would secretly discuss affairs of state and various pieces of governmental documentation

The Taiping grew to have more than 30 million loyal followers, and overran much of southern China. When Nanjing was captured in 1853, its name was changed to Tianjing, or "The Heavenly Capital" (天京), and Hong set up his government in this former administrative center. 

The Throne Room of the "Heavenly King" Hong Qiuquan

The Taiping would have probably destroyed the Qing had it not been for the assistance of the British and French colonial armies, which was finally put down - after causing around 20 million casualties - by 1864.

Hong Xiuquan's study room

After the Taiping Rebellion, the palace regained historical importance once again in 1912, becoming the presidential palace for Sun Yat-sen and his Nationalist Party or Guomindang (国民党), for the newly-founded Republic of China (中华民国).

"The World Belongs to the Masses"

Sun Yat-sen had a smaller structure built on the palace grounds to house his government, which still survives to this day. The inside of the building has been converted into a museum.

While Sun was forced from the presidency - as well as the palace - only a few months after he gained the position, the palace was used again years later by the Guomindang - then led by Chiang Kai-shek (蒋介石) - as the seat of governmental power after the Guomindang reunified China in 1928. 

Like Sun Yat-sen before him, Chiang Kai-shek had a completely new structure built on the palace grounds for his government, completed by 1936. 

The building was only used for a single year by Chiang's government, however, as the Japanese began their invasion into China in 1937, forcing the Guomindang to flee both the palace and Nanjing. The Japanese then set up a puppet government to rule the portions of China they conquered, using the palace as an administrative center.

Chiang's government regained the palace in 1945 after the Japanese were defeated, and used the palace as their seat of government before once again being forced to flee, this time by the Chinese Communists, in 1949.

Under the Communists, the palace served as minor governmental offices until being refurbished into a very entertaining tourist attraction in 2000. 

My unexpectedly wonderful tour of the presidential palace complete, I made my way to the last place of interest I wanted to see in Nanjing, which I shall cover in my next blog post.

Until next time!