A Gloomy Morning at Purple Mountain 紫金山

The next morning, we made our way to the Purple Mountain area (紫金山). The “Father of China” Sun Yat Sen is buried on Purple Mountain, which meant that there would be a huge Mausoleum in his honour.  The construction of the Mausoleum required 3 years to complete, and the result is a massive Memorial located at the base of one of the mountain peaks.  From the entrance of the park, it is a 30 minute walk up to his memorial.  Beautiful natural scenery surrounded the path leading up to the Mausoleum.

If you didn’t want to walk up to the Mausoleum, you could take one of these trains

Once you arrive at the entrance of the Mausoleum, you still need to walk a huge distance before reaching the hundreds of stairs that lead up to the actual Mausoleum.

After the long pathway, you reach this structure and question how a Mausoleum for Sun Yat Sen can be so basic.

Once you make your way up the stairs, you realize that structure was just a gate and the Mausoleum is actually perched high up in the distance.

There weren’t too many people when we visited as it was a very wet and cloudy day.  One thing that never ceases to surprise me, is how all these structures with hundreds of stairs are built without any railings.  There were so many children and elderly people walking up and down the stairs and I was so nervous that an accident would happen.

Other important sights on Purple Mountain are the Linggu Temple (靈谷寺) and the Mingxiaoling Mausoleum (明孝陵), which is the tomb of the first emperor of the Ming Dynasty).  Unfortunately due to time constraints, I was unable to visit either one of these places

For more photos, please see my Photo Gallery of Purple Mountain 紫金山.

Photo Gallery of Purple Mountain 紫金山
Address: Tianwentai Rd, Xuanwu, Nanjing, Jiangsu, China
Phone:+86 25 8434 7519
Getting There: Line 2 Muxuyuan MRT Station (苜蓿园) Exit 1