Presidential Palace, Nanjing

Background

The Presidential Palace is at 292 Changjiang Road. In the early Ming the site held the mansions of the Marquis of Guide and the Prince of Han; in the Qing it was the office of the Viceroy of Liangjiang and served as a travel palace during the southern tours of the Kangxi and Qianlong emperors, and Lin Zexu, Zeng Guofan, Li Hongzhang and others all served here as Viceroy of Liangjiang. After the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom made Nanjing its capital in 1853, Hong Xiuquan rebuilt it as the Heavenly King's Palace; it was burned when Qing forces took Nanjing, and the viceroy's office was rebuilt in 1870. On 1 January 1912 Sun Yat-sen was inaugurated here as Provisional President of the Republic of China; from 1927 it was the seat of the Nationalist Government, and after Japanese forces captured Nanjing in December 1937 it was for a time occupied by the Wang Jingwei regime and other puppet governments. It was renamed the Presidential Palace in 1948. After the founding of the People's Republic of China it long housed Jiangsu provincial government offices, and in 2003 it became the Nanjing China Modern History Museum. It is one of the largest and most completely preserved building complexes among China's modern architectural heritage, and was listed as a Major Historical and Cultural Site Protected at the National Level in 2013.

Local customs

• The visit roughly follows three axes: the central axis holds the main buildings from the Liangjiang Viceroy's Office to the Nationalist Government and the Presidential Palace, including the Main Hall, the Qilin Gate and the Zichao Building
• the west area has Sun Yat-sen's office as Provisional President and the West Garden (Xu Garden)
• the east area has the former Executive Yuan and exhibitions on the rebuilt Heavenly King's Palace. Nanjing people often refer to the Presidential Palace, together with the Jiangning Imperial Silk Manufacturing Museum and the Six Dynasties Museum on Changjiang Road, as the “Changjiang Road Cultural Street”.

Religion & beliefs

• The Presidential Palace is a former government office and modern historical site with no religious function. The stone boat and pavilions in the West Garden are garden architecture
• historical traces of the God Worshipping Society from the Taiping period are only described in the exhibits. Please remain respectful in exhibition areas dealing with war and changes of regime, and do not pose inappropriately in historical settings.

Rules that apply here

Travel tips

• Allow 2–3 hours
• seeing the gardens and all three axes takes half a day. It is about a 10-minute walk from Daxinggong Station on Metro Lines 2 and 3, and many buses run along Changjiang Road. Parking nearby is scarce, so public transport is recommended. Tickets to the Presidential Palace must be booked in advance under your real name
• slots are tight in peak season and on holidays, opening hours vary by season, and whether it closes on Mondays and other specific rules are subject to the site's official announcements. Combine with: the Six Dynasties Museum, the Jiangning Imperial Silk Manufacturing Museum and Nanjing Library, all on Changjiang Road
• head east to the Meiyuan New Village Memorial Hall, or walk north to Xuanwu Lake and the Taicheng section of the Nanjing City Wall. Fitting in the Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum and the Ming Xiaoling Mausoleum on the same day is rushed, so plan them separately.