Zhongshan Mountain in Nanjing, also known as Purple Mountain, is home to several famous attractions, such as the Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum, the Ming Xiaoling Mausoleum, and Linggu Temple. These attractions used to offer a combined ticket, but now that admission to the Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum is free, the others sell tickets separately. As for the Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum, it basically involves climbing stairs non-stop, and there’s nothing much at the top. Especially on weekends, free attractions are inevitably packed with crowds. So I went to the Ming Xiaoling Mausoleum instead. This attraction is quite expansive, and the current admission fee is 70 yuan~~~~
Overall, the weather was quite nice—neither too cold nor too hot, just clear and sunny~~ After exiting Muxuyuan Metro Station, it’s a very long walk to the entrance of the attraction. Fortunately, this road has a dedicated pedestrian walkway that is completely separated from vehicle traffic.
The road to the Ming Xiaoling Mausoleum
You first pass by the Ming Xiaoling Mausoleum Museum before purchasing tickets and entering the scenic area. After passing through the Great Golden Gate, you reach the Square City, where there is a Cherry Blossom Garden—though of course, there are absolutely no cherry blossoms right now…
Statues outside the Ming Xiaoling Mausoleum Museum
Square City
Incense burner in the Cherry Blossom Garden
Next up is the most famous Stone Elephant Road. Strangely enough, I actually turned off after walking only halfway…
I completely missed the Sacred Way Pillars and the Wengzhong Road further ahead…
Stone Elephant Road
Stone Elephant Road
Stone Elephant Road
Further up the path lies the Ming Xiaoling Mausoleum
Ming Tower
Ming Tower
Continuing further up leads to Zixia Lake. It was probably once a reservoir before being developed into a tourist spot. There aren’t actually many tourists here, but plenty of local residents visit, and many come to swim. It’s actually quite dangerous—if something were to happen here, an ambulance wouldn’t even be able to drive up… ~~ But the environment is quite nice, especially after walking for so long; sitting by the lake and soaking up the sun feels very comfortable.
Zixia Lake
Zixia Lake
Then I took a different path down, passing by the Yan Zhenqing Stele Forest and Dinglin Villa. Nearby, there is also an Underwater World, several hotels, as well as a state guesthouse and a cadre sanatorium. The surroundings seem quite pleasant; I might come back for another stroll next year… It seems that in both Hangzhou and Nanjing, the places worth visiting are all up in the mountains….
Photos in this post taken with a SONY NEX-5R + 16-50 f3.5-5.6, post-processed in Lightroom.
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