Of all the cities in China, I finally chose Nanjing to spend my summer holiday with my family. The place was selected for several reasons: its richness in culture and history, the vitality of its modern life, the daintiness of all the snacks and street food, and most importantly, it's a paradise for children.
By far the most significant point of interest in Luhe district is the Stone Pillar Forest on Guizi Hill. The forest is a type of geological formation that has only been found at four sites an earth, of which this is the biggest. Massive gray pentagonal and hexagonal stone columns line the inside of the hill’s shell, of which some four-fifths survives; the area inside the hill covers nearly a fifth of a square kilometer, and the hill itself is about fifty meters tall.
More than 3,000 animals call this tree-blanketed hill home, including rare native species like cuddly giant pandas and ginger-furred snub-nosed monkeys.
Quite randomly, the sprawling zoo has a dedicated ‘Australian area’ to accommodate all animals from the land down under.
Shitoucheng Park – where city wall and Qinhuai River stand side by side
The free public park provides a chance to see remains of City Walls from two different dynasties: a red sandstone fortress from the Wu Kingdom (around 1800 years ago) stands side by side with a grey-bricked fortification from the Ming Dynasty (around 650 years ago).
Every morning, retired locals practice Tai Chi, sing opera and walk backwards in circles in what was once the forbidden grounds of the Ming Palace.
Inside the park stands Wumen, one of Nanjing’s few remaining palace gates, dating back to 1367. Visitors can climb the grey-bricked structure to experience a good view over Yudao to the south, the straight and tree-lined former imperial road.
Nanjing Yeshan National Mine Park is located in the north of Luhe District, next to Jinniu Lake scenic area. The iron ore smelting of Yeshan has a long history. As early as 3000 years ago, Yeshan Mountain was a place of mining and smelting. The history of iron-smelting was more than 1800 years earlier than that in Europe. It is a microcosm of China's mining history. The underground mining intuitively and iconically indicate the history of China's mining technology from the Western Zhou Dynasty to now.