Briefly, Nanjing – At the Rooster’s Crow

I booked this trip to Nanjing in April 2019 for a brief three-and-a-half days, originally hoping to relax.  If not for this blog, I would not have pushed myself over the limit on this trip.  I walked so much that my feet swelled.  On my last day, I almost could not fit in my runners.

But that is another story.

In Day 2, I woke by 7am and was ready to go.  I planned to see the Rooster Crow Temple (Jiming Si), the Ming Dynasty City Wall of Nanjing (Ming Cheng Qiang), and the Xuanwu Lake (Xuanwuhu) in the morning.  The afternoon would be either the Sun Yatsen Mausoleum or the Memorial Hall of the Victims in Nanjing Massacre by Japanese Invaders in Jiangdongmen.

If readers are looking for tips on Nanjing, I think the above-mentioned sites are must-see.  That was why I tried to pack all that into the first two days.

The Rooster Crow Temple prides in its long history as one of the first temples in Nanjing.   As early as the first year of the Yongkang Reign during the Western Jin Dynasty (300AD), the temple has served as a site of Buddha worship.  During the Southern Dynasty, the first Emperor Liangwu Di of the Liang period built the Tongtai Temple in this site.  As such, the Rooster Crow Temple’s predecessor was the first of the 480 Temples in the Southern Dynasty.  Himself dedicated to the study of Buddhism here as a monk, Liangwu Di declared the decree of vegetarianism for Buddhist monks in 511AD.  That would be the beginning of the vegetarian diet in Chinese Buddhism.

The first Emperor of the Ming Dynasty (Ming Tai Zu, whose name is Zhu Yuanzhang) rebuilt the temple compound here in 1387.  He named this temple Rooster Crow Temple (Jiming Si).  It means that at the Rooster’s Crow, people rise to practice swordsmanship.  The Ming Emperor certainly appreciated the virtue of discipline and diligence.

Today, the Rooster Crow Temple is both a place of Buddha worship and a monastery.

As early as I was at the temple at 8:30, there was already quite a crowd in the temple compound.  By the time I left the Xuanwu Lake, the whole area became extremely crowded.

At the end of the tour route at the temple, one will enter the famous Ming Dynasty City Wall (Ming Cheng Qiang).  Because the Taiping Gate was closed for renovation when I visited, the walk on the City Wall was rather short.  It might have been less than half a kilometer.

Perhaps what sets the Ming Dynasty City Wall apart from the other defensive walls of China was the existence of bricks with embossed wordings.  The wordings denote the identity of the kilns.  In early Ming Dynasty when the Emperor built the wall, he demanded bricks from the kilns all over the country.  If a shipment was defective, the brick maker would have one chance to make good.  If the second shipment was also defective, it was an offense punishable by death.

Along the city wall there was a display of ancient materiel, mostly of the Ming and Qing Dynasties.  It was truly an open-space museum.

Looking on, the Xuanwu Lake lies ahead within walking distance.  From the high vantage point of the City Wall, one could take a panoramic view of the Lake.

Exiting the City Wall, I walked over to two of the five Isles on the lake, called Huan (Ring) Isle and the Ying (Cherry Blossom) Isle.  The springtime cherry blossom welcomed the visitors in a very festive atmosphere.  The vast body of surrounding water soothed my mind.  Just a short walk around the carefully landscaped gardens provides respite within Nanjing’s developed urban-scape.

The Xuanwu Lake served a few purposes for the ancient dynasties that named Nanjing as the capital.  It was once the site of naval training during the Six Dynasties period.  The ancients fully appreciated its beauty and it was also a recreational facility for the royalties during the Six Dynasties.  The location of the lake being at the northern side of Nanjing also made it perfect as a natural barrier against invasion, as it was considered a moat surrounding the city wall.  Finally, it was also the source of fresh water supply for the capital during the Ming Dynasty, as the existence of ancient water gates attest.

I savored the views of the natural lake in awe, at the same time taking in the lessons of history that I learned along the way.