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Nanjing, Rich Past, Bright Future
Nanjing, known as Jinling in ancient China, is the capital of Jiangsu
Province which lies on the lower reaches of the Yangtze River. The ancient city,
surrounded by mountains and the river, was the capital of ten dynasties. A
metropolis both ancient and modern, Nanjing has many places of interest, such as
the Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum, the Presidential Mansion, the Ming Xiaoling
Mausoleum, the Mochou Lake, the Qinhuai River, the Ming city wall, the Zhonghua
city tower, the Zhanyuan Garden, the Zijinshan Observatory, the Tombs of the
Southern Dynasties and the Yangtze River Bridge.
More than 600 years ago, when Shanghai was just a small fishing village,
Nanjing was decided as its capital in the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), making it
one of the world's largest cities at the time.
It was also the seat of government of five other ancient dynasties and the
capital of the Kuomintang government for a decade from 1927. In 1937 it was the
scene of the Nanjing Massacre perpetrated by invading Japanese troops. So,
Nanjing has seen the best and worst of Chinese history.
Today Nanjing is a city concerned above all, like the rest of China, with
developing its economy and improving the standard of living of its residents.
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