Purple mountain ç´«éå±±
Dr. Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum
Resting place of the leader of the 1911 revolution.
Some say that Nanjing is all about Tombs. Plan an entire day just exploring the mountain and surrounding areas. The park has a shuttle "train" you can ride and is included in the price of certain tickets. There is also a cable car going up the hill for ï¿¥35 one-way and ï¿¥60 round-trip, or you can walk. The area is home to the tombs of three very important emperors:
The tomb of Sun Quan
From the Three Kingdoms period
A Purple Mountain pass might be worth buying if you plan on visiting 2 or 3 of the parks on the mountain. The Purple Mountain pass can be bought for ï¿¥100 at the entrance to Sun Yat-sen's Memorial and possibly at any of the other parks on the mountain and provides you with entry to nine parks.
The city pass can be bought for ¥100 at the entrance to any of the big parks in the city, such as the zoo or Yuhuatai Memorial Park and provides you with free entry to 21 different locations. You need to provide a passport photo for each pass and they are valid for one calendar year.
QiXia Temple
A one time retreat for Emperor QianLong, the temple at the foot of maple forested hillside now draws hoards of less exulted visitors to clamber along the network of trails connecting fancifully named pavilions, ponds, tombs and natural stone features. The temple itself is not extensive, having only a pair of identical looking bell and drum towers in front of an austerely large hall, embedded with elegant lacquer-red window frames, containing a relatively contemporary, yet gracefully benevolent looking gigantic Buddha seated on a golden lotus. At the rear of the hall is a pair of intricately carved cabinets of a more impressively authentic vintage housing stone Buddha and Guanyin statues. The temple allegedly has an ancient bone relic purported to be from the historical Buddha, though it is kept well hidden. Further up the hill is a cluster of stone formations bifurcated by a steep canyon, believed to have been split in antiquity by mystical forces, that enables accent up a stair way to a pavilion and a high view over the valley. Higher up the hill are the crumbling remnants of group of buildings used by Qianlongâs army. The best time to visit is during autumn when the maple trees are radiating orange or spring when the peach blossoms are loaded with pink and white flowers.