nanjing: a city that's seen too much (and i've only seen a little)
i just got back from nanjing and honestly? i'm exhausted. it's like visiting a city that's been around for thousands of years and has stories to tell but also has this strange, modern energy that doesn't quite fit. i just checked and it's...12.08°C there right now, hope you like that kind of thing. it feels like 10.68°C though, so pack a jacket if you're planning to go.
so nanjing is this place that's been around for like, 2,500 years. that's older than, well, almost everything i know. the name means "southern capital" and they started calling it that in 1403 during the ming dynasty. it's the capital of jiangsu province and one of china's four great ancient capitals, whatever that means exactly. it's this big deal, apparently.
the city has this weird gourd shape, with the pointy end pointing northwest. i don't know why that matters, but it's in the data so i'm mentioning it. it's about 6,600 square kilometers with almost 10 million people living there. that's a lot of people, way more than my hometown.
the yangtze river cuts through this city diagonally from southwest to northeast. that's a big river, like, seriously big. it flows for about 93 kilometers through nanjing. there's also this qinhuai river that they call the "mother river" which flows through the main urban area. it's all very watery here.
surrounding the city are these hills - ningzheng ridge, zijin mountains, qingliang hill. the mountains are called "purple-gold" which sounds fancy. the city center is only about 15 meters above sea level, so not too high up.
if you get bored, shanghai is just a short drive away (242 km to the east), along with suzhou (215 km), hangzhou (225 km), and huangshan (262 km). that's convenient if you want to see more of the area, which i mostly didn't because i was too tired.
someone told me that nanjing is called the "door of the east and west, throat of the south and north" because it's where the yangtze river (east-west water transport) and the nanjing-beijing railway (south-north land transport) meet. that sounds like a mouthful, but it's apparently important for trade. it has one of the largest inland ports in the world, which is impressive.
the city center is in this place called xinjiekou, and the main urban area is about 17 km north to south and 18.3 km east to west. it has 11 districts with about 1,214 people per square kilometer. that's crowded.
i didn't really get to see much of the tourist stuff or try the local food because i was just there for work, but it seems like there's a lot to explore. the ming dynasty wall is still standing for about two-thirds of its original 34-kilometer length, which is pretty cool if you're into old walls.
so that's nanjing. it's old, it's big, it's got rivers and hills and a weird shape. not sure what else to say about it, but i'm glad i went and i'm glad i'm back home. maybe next time i'll actually see some of the attractions and eat some food.
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