History Lessons

Today, our guide, Kay, took us to tour two historic landmarks of Nanjing. It was a very interesting morning as we learned so much about the rich history of China.

We started our day with a visit to Nanjing’s Zhonghua Gate, the southern gate of Nanjing city. It is said to be the greatest ancient city gate in China and is the largest of 13 city gates contained in Nanjing’s city wall. Built from 1360 – 1386 (Ming Dynasty), the city wall was originally about 20 miles in length. Today, about 13 miles of the wall still exist, after 7 miles were destroyed by the Japanese during its invasion of Nanjing in 1937. Japan attacked Nanjing, because at that time it was the capital of China. As a matter of fact, Nanjing has been the capital of China off-and-on since 403 BC. Most recently, Nanjing was China’s capital from 1911 (when the last Emperor was overthrown) until 1949 (when Mao Ze Dong took over and started The Communist Party). Soon afterward, Mao moved the capital from Nanjing to its present location, Beijing.

Today, just inside the gate, resides a quaint bonsai garden, where a 78 year old man spends 10 hours a day grooming his bonsai trees. We lingered there for a while, looking at all the well-manicured little trees, and talking with this elderly man who finds contentment and purpose in his little garden.




As we ascended the stairway leading to the top of the gate, it was plain to see that each and every brick making up the gate and wall was inscribed with Chinese characters forming the name of the brick maker. Kay told us that the identity of the brick maker was important if the bricks were found to be defective. The brick maker would be shown relative mercy for the first one or two mistakes, but three strikes and he was out – literally! He, as well as the leader of the city the brick was made in, would be beheaded. How's that for quality control?











After leaving the gate, we went to visit the Nanjing Yangtze River Bridge. This was the first bridge to be built across the Yangtze River in Nanjing. Construction began in 1960 and the bridge was completed in 1968. Because it was the first double-decker bridge designed and constructed by the Chinese without outside engineering assistance, the Chinese take great pride in this bridge, considering it one of their national treasures. Kay told us that children learn about this bridge in school, and that it is every child's dream to see the Yangtze River Bridge.

Before they built this bridge, the Chinese had always relied on Russia to help them build not only bridges but also railroads, factories, etc. The Russians actually had the blueprints for this bridge already drawn up, but once relations between these two countries went a little sour, Russia backed out, taking their blueprints and telling the Chinese that they'd never be able to build this bridge alone. So, with Chairman Mao as China's leader, this project was quickly undertaken in an effort to prove that Chinese engineers were indeed skilled enough to do so. It became a symbol of Chinese independence and ability. Five thousand volunteers donated their time to help build the bridge, and many people donated money for its completion. Building began in 1960 and ended in 1968. Today, over 100,000 cars, trucks, and buses cross the Yangtze River every day on this bridge.

Chairman Mao

A picture of the 200,000 gathered for the bridge's Opening Ceremony

At the bridge site, their is a crystal painting museum, housing the works of the famous artist, Gao yuan. Gao yuan paints inside crystal balls, vases, etc., and his beautiful work has made him well renowned. He was at the museum when we were visiting, and so we were able to meet him and to have him write Brock's Chinese name inside the crystal ball we purchased. He spent quite a while writing it, and then told us that he was covering the painted characters with a clear coating to protect them. He said that he didn't want the characters to fade or rub off, in hopes that Brock Ji Hao would never forget his Chinese name.




We spent a large part of the afternoon in the hotel room playing. Brock Ji Hao loves the Play Mobil sets we brought him, and he was occupied for several hours with just one small set. His favorite thing so far, though, continues to be the Game Boy. Looks like we are going to have to set some serious video game limits once we are home, or I'm afraid he'd play all day! What is it with boys and video games???




Brock once again had a terrific day! This sweet guy wears a huge smile on his face all day long, and continues to tell us all that he loves us. His behavior has been perfect (making me wonder...after all he is an eight year old boy!). He has wonderful table manners and has been eating very well at each meal. He again slept soundly last night. Max thinks that he was not allowed to get out of bed until given some sort of signal, because when he wakes up, he stays in bed until Max gets up. This morning, as soon as Max got up, Brock jumped out of bed and ran to use the bathroom. Poor guy...we'll have to explain to him that he can get up to go potty whenever he needs to. He loved his bath again tonight, and I got several deep belly laughs out of him by wrestling with him on the bed. My heart soared to hear him so very happy. Again, I am amazed at his courage.

Tonight, we took another taxi ride to our favorite restaurant in Nanjing, Ciao-Italia. If you are one of those who will soon be staying in Nanjing, we highly recommend this excellent Italian restaurant.

After dinner, we took a stroll outside our hotel and down to the Qinhuai river. It is beautifully lit up at night.

Tomorrow, we'll take the three hour drive to Wuxi to visit the orphanage. Please pray that Brock Ji Hao is able to understand that we are just visiting, not taking him back permanently. Also, pray that emotionally it will have a positive effect on him, giving him some closure on his past, and allowing him to look ahead to his future.

I can't say enough how grateful we are that you are joining us on this journey. Thanks for your friendship and support!


Love, Tracy