Another must-see attraction to Nanjing is the Nanjing Presidential Palace. It is the largest and most complete group of buildings in the remains of modern Chinese architecture, is one of the main representatives of the architecture of the Republic of China in Nanjing, and more importantly: since modern times, the Nanjing Presidential Palace has repeatedly become the center of China's politics and military, the source of major events, a series of major events in modern China or here, or have a close relationship with here. It is a landmark building of the century-old history of the Republic of China and an important site of modern history.
For a long time, I have always had a misunderstanding, from the photos and pictures always think that the presidential palace is a very architectural office building, this time into the presidential palace to know that it is only a reinforced concrete structure of the Western classical porch gatehouse, a bit similar to the Western triumphal arch, peace gate and other symbolic buildings. On the façade of the gatehouse are eight Ionian columns engraved with Baroque lines, forming a three-arched and hollowed-out gate with a roof. The outside of the gate is a circular vault, and the inside is a square door, which means "outer circle and inner square", and also contains the meaning of "heavenly circle place". The Gate Tower of the Presidential Palace in Nanjing is a distinctive architectural relic of modern China influenced by Western architecture.
The architectural history of the Nanjing Presidential Palace can be traced back to more than 600 years ago in the early Ming Dynasty, it was the Gui De Hou Mansion and the Han King's Mansion in that year; to the Qing Dynasty, it was set up as the Jiangning Weaving Bureau, the Liangjiang Governor's Office, etc., Kangxi and Qianlong made many southern tours to this palace, Kangxi six times down the Jiangnan, four times lived here; after the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom set the capital of Tianjing (Nanjing), a large-scale construction of the Grand Heavenly Palace here, and the "True God Glory Gate" was built at the location of the gate tower of the current Presidential Palace, also known as "Emperor Tianmen" or "Fengmen". In 1864, after the Qing army attacked Tianjing, the gate was demolished and the gate of the Liangjiang Governor's Office was rebuilt; on January 1, 1912, Sun Yat-sen was sworn in as the provisional president of the Republic of China, and later became the presidential palace of the National Government in Nanjing, and the name of the Nanjing Presidential Palace continues to this day.
After the establishment of the National Government in Nanjing, this new gatehouse building with the western classical style was built in 1929, which is now the most eye-catching landmark of the Presidential Palace. This gatehouse with a history of more than 90 years witnessed the history of humiliation and development in modern China, during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, in December 1937, the fall of Nanjing, the Japanese Kou held an entrance ceremony in front of this gate, and the Presidential Palace became the regimental headquarters of the 16th Division of the Japanese Army invading China, and then became the gate of the "Republic of China Restoration Government" and the Wang Puppet Government Control Yuan. After the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, in 1946 the Nationalist Government returned to Nanjing, which remained the gate of the Nationalist Government until the liberation of Nanjing. On April 23, 1949, a million male divisions of the Chinese People's Liberation Army crossed the Yangtze River, and in the early morning of the 24th, they captured the Presidential Palace, and the red flag was planted on the gate tower of the Presidential Palace, declaring the liberation of Nanjing.
After more than 600 years, this palace has gradually become the presidential palace, witnessing the tortuous development history of China and leaving a large number of cultural and architectural sites. In February 1982, the "Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Heavenly Palace Ruins" in the Presidential Palace were announced by the State Council as a national key cultural relics protection unit; in 1998, the Museum of Modern Chinese History was established; in 2001, the "Architectural Remains of Sun Yat-sen's Provisional Grand Presidential Palace and the National Government in Nanjing" in the Presidential Palace was announced by the State Council as a national key cultural relics protection unit; in 2004, it was listed as a national AAAA-level tourist attraction; in September 2016, it was selected into the list of "The First Batch of Chinese Architectural Heritage of the 20th Century".
The Nanjing Presidential Palace complex covers an area of about 90,000 square meters, and has both ancient Chinese traditional Jiangnan gardens and modern architectural relics integrated with the West. It is divided into three areas: the Central District mainly has the National Government, the Presidential Office and its affiliated institutions; the Western District has the Office of the Provisional President sun yat-sen, the Secretariat, the West Garden, the Sun Yat-sen Living Room and the General Staff Headquarters; the Eastern District mainly has the Executive Yuan, the Tao Lin Ergong Ancestral Hall, the Stables and the East Garden. Among them, there are more than ten cultural relics historical materials and restoration exhibitions such as the cultural relics of the Presidential Palace, Sun Yat-sen and the Provisional Government of Nanjing, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, and the Qing Liangjiang Governor's Office.
Don't forget to visit the "Nanjing Presidential Palace" in Nanjing, here is a grand architectural complex to understand china's modern history, it has left its special status in Chinese history, and is one of the must-visit attractions for Chinese and foreign tourists to Nanjing.