24 November 98

        Bade Huangshan goodbye and boarded the bus for Nanjing, Jiangsu Province. The 06:30 coach took the new highway and reached its destination by 13:00.

        Nanjing is the final resting place of the most famous Cantonese, the founding father of modern China, Dr. Sun Yat-sen.  As a son of Guangdong, I considered it my first and foremost duty to pay respects to this national hero. As I approached the mausoleum, an unfortunate incident marred this solemn occasion. I caught a rascal spitting in the vicinity. I drew up my stature of 1.82 meters (6 ft.) and berated the scoundrel in full stentorian mode. “Is this how you show your respect?”, I demanded.

        Back at the hotel, I signed up for a day tour of Nanjing; which included Confucius temple, the President’s Office, Xuanwu Lake and the Yangtze bridge.

  Slender West Lake

        Leaving Nanjing, I then set off for Yangzhou; home of Slender West Lake and Damingsi.  According to my ticket, Damingsi has been in existence for over 1500 years. Famous poets such as Li Bai and Bai Juyi have visited the place; but unfortunately the temple was razed in the Tang dynasty. What we have today is just a replica.

        Slender West Lake, as its name implies is a narrow stretch of water that is supposed to be held in comparison to its better known counterpart West Lake of Hangzhou. As I had to catch the last bus to Zhenjiang, all I could manage was a whirlwind tour of both sights.

        Zhenjiang is known for its local vinegar and Jinshan Park. The park is setting for the fairy tale The Story of the White Snake. In the tale a scholar falls in love with a fairy snake that can take on human form; the snake, however, is pursued by a monk who wants to terminate fairies. The snake and monk finally duke it out in Jinshan Park.

        Next on my itinerary was the town Wuxi; which means no tin. Apparently, the place used to be full of the stuff; until everybody and his brother mined the last ounce. The tourist attractions around Wuxi include Lake Taihu, Yuantouzhu Park, Li Yuan and CCTV’s Tang City Theme Park.

        Li Yuan is named after Fan Li, who was adviser to King Yue. Fan suggested that they present Xishi, one of China’s four ancient beauties, to King Wu; in the hopes that King Wu would neglect his country. In the end, King Yue defeated King Wu; legend also has it that Fan Li eloped with Xishi.

        Hauled myself onto the train for Suzhou; the place that is second to heaven. According to a Chinese cliche: Be born in Suzhou, eat in Guangzhou, live in Hangzhou and die in Liuzhou. Suzhou is supposed to be full of beautiful women; thus ensuring one comes to this earth blessed with the physical graces.

        Three out of four of China’s famous gardens are located here. These are the Humble Administrator’s Garden, Liu Yuan, and Net Master Garden (the last being Beijing‘s Summer Palace). I particularly enjoyed reading the history of the Humble Administrator’s Garden commissioner; an official from the Ming dynasty who tired of internecine imperial court struggles. Longing for the simple life, he opted out of the fast track and bought a tract of land where he would spend the rest of his days in peace.

        Another sight that I managed to catch was Cold Mountain Temple. There is a piece of Tang poetry that mentions this location; and parts of the poem have even been incorporated into a mainland pop song. The bell mentioned in the poem was carted off by the Japanese during WWII; yet Japanese tourists still come all the way to visit the temple.