Nanjing

After Beijing we flew to Nanjing. Nanjing is a beautiful city and continued to do more shopping.

There are a few highlights in this city.

First, the Nanjing Massacre Museum, which I had just learned about in my Atomic Bomb class. In Sept. 1937, Japan invaded Nanjing and killed and raped the city. About 300,000 people died during the invasion. When the city was excavating for a project they found the mass grave of some of the people who died during the massacre. They abandoned the project and set up a museum instead.

Another highlight is Dr. Sun Yet-Sian's Mausoleum. He was the guy who overthrew the Imperial System in China. On his death bed, he requested to be buried in Nanjing. This place was beautiful and offered a great scenic view of the city.

If you go to Nanjing, don't forget to marvel at their bridge. The people of Nanjing needed to build a bridge, but did not have the technology nor the know-how and approached the Soviet Union for assistance. The Soviet's said ok, as long as they could gain control over China. China of course said "no. Thank you." They ended up building this bridge without any assistance and are quite proud of it. The top section is for cars and trucks. The bottom section is for trains. It was beautiful there. We also saw an artist who paints inside glass globes here.

We also visited the Confucius Temple. This had everyone on the trip confused. We thought we were going to an actual temple, but it was a market. I bought a fan for $.80 - what a deal!! I hate bargaining and Jason, thrifty as he is, loves it. So I would walk away and let him do his magic. 80 cents for a fan isn't bad considering they wanted about $10 for it.

Of course no trip to Nanjing would be complete without a trip to Wal-mart. That's right, I said it, Wal-mart. We were driving along the streets headed back to the hotel when I "Oh look, Wal-mart." Then the entire bus erupted and started screaming. Dr. Shen said we could stop to take a picture, but that turned into a 30 minute shopping spree. It was hilarious! It actually was a good thing for me to shop there because I had forgotten sunscreen and I was worried I was going to be a burnt tater by the time we got home. Thankfully, I had the opportunity to buy some and a pair of cheap shoes, which I love!