Nanjing Day 1

Hey everyone!

A few weeks ago we went to Nanjing, which is the capital of Jiangsu Province. At one time in China's history it was the capital of China. Josh and I had an amazing time there. We splurged and stayed in a five star hotel. Compared to Canada's pricing of a five star hotel it was extremely cheap (only $90.00). The hotel was so westernized it felt as though we were staying at a hotel back home. Our dinner that night was all you can eat buffet with western and chinese food. Josh had about 8 piled high plates. I have honestly not seen him eat that much since we have been to China. Our hotel had satellite TV so we watched HBO movies all night. It was so relaxing and for the first time we felt like we weren't so far away from home.

This is a shot at Fuzi Temple, which was the centre of Confucian study for more than 1500 years. Fuzi Temple has been damaged and rebuilt repeatedly, and what will be shown in these pictures were all reconstructed in the late Qing Dynasty (1644-1911 A.D.).

Statue of Confucius. The shortened version is Confucius was born in 551 B.C. and he passed away at the age of 73. Confucius is recognized by people of following generations as one who integrated the ancient history and culture of the Chinese nation.

In one building we sat and watched some performances with traditional Chinese instruments. It was very different and sounded beautiful. I could have sat there for a long time but had many things to see and places to go.

This bell was cast in 1999 for Confucius' 2550 birthday. The name of the bell was inscribed by Kong Demao, who is the 77th decendant of Confucius. Imagine having your family line traced for so long...that is really cool. The bell consists of pictures from Confucius' tour in many states and excerpts from "The Book of Rites".

At night time the area was covered in lights and it was beautiful.

The characters on the archway behind Josh read "Nanjing Fuzi Miao".