November 8

On Saturday we visited the Yangtze River Bridge in Nanjing. This was an awesome historical day, as we learned about the building of this bridge under Mao Tse Tung and what a proud feat it was for the people of China and Nanjing. Susan, as always, was an incredible source of history, culture and "feel" for the events and the people of this time period. The bridge was started with the cooperation between the Soviet Union and China in the early 1960s. But that relationship soured, the Soviets pulled out, and the Chinese had to figure out the whole bridge-building thing on their own, and in a hurry!

Approaching the bridge tower:



A statue of Mao:



The bridge across the Yangtze River:



Then we hopped in a cab and went to visit Nanjing's drum tower. Susan described how the drumtowers' purpose in each city was to keep time for the citizens. A nearby bell tower sounded alarms in the event of disasters or invasion.

Here is a tablet erected to one of the emperors who came to visit. I think it was the Qing emperor who visited in the 1600s but I'll have to check my notes!!



The stone work of the base of the drumtower is original, dating to the origins of the city in the 1300s.



After the drumtower, we had lunch and went to buy some clothes that would hopefully fit tiny butt... I mean, Jonah Tao Tao. We had lunch at fun buffet in a shopping mall. 58 Chinese Yuan (about 9 US dollars) for a giant meal and lots of yummies to eat! Then we took a boat ride on the small scenic river near the Mandarin Garden and were treated to a show as the sun set and the lights came on!