The Presidential Palace, which is located at No. 292 Changjiang Road, Xuanwu District, Nanjing, China, is the largest and most well-preserved modern complex in China, a major representative of buildings constructed in the Republic period as well as an important site showing China's modern history. It has been converted into the China Modern History Museum.
The Presidential Palace in Nanjing had served as China's political and military centre for many times in modern history which witnessed a series of great events or had some close connections with these events. Besides, some famous figures had lived or worked here. At present, it has been listed as one of the national key cultural relics protection units and named a national AAAA-class tourist attraction.
Xihua Hall
In the early 20th century, the western architectural forms were widely used by architects in some buildings in Nanjing under the influence of eclecticism thoughts. Duanfang, a viceroy of Liangjiang during Qing Dynasty, started to build the yellow bungalow characterized by the styles that were popular during the Italian Renaissance. Zhang RenJun, the last viceroy of Liangjiang in the Qing Dynasty, completed the construction. As it was situated in the west of the governor's mansion, the house was called Xihua Hall.
Xi Garden
As a typical garden in South Yangtze river, Xi Garden is connected with the Presidential Palace and has reserved large numbers of famous sites and monuments, including the Marble Boat, the Sunset Glow Tower, the Unforgettable Pavilion, the Ripple Terrace and the Heart-Seal Stone Cottage.
Original the backyard garden of the Royal Highness Han’s home in the early Ming Dynasty (1,368-1,644BC), the garden was named after the Royal Highness as his first name contains the word “Xi”. During the Qing Dynasty, the garden served as the backyard garden of the Governor of Jiangsu, Jiangxi and Anhui provinces.
Kylin Gate
The Kylin Gate is a rectangular double-leaf wooden gate of royal scarlet color which divides the central axis into two parts. To demonstrate the prestige and majesty of the chairman and the president, the door was always tightly closed and didn’t open unless Chiang Kai-shek himself came, and others were only allowed to bypass the gate from the two sides. It was called the Kylin Gate because there were two stone carvings of Kylins (Chinese unicorns) at each side of the gate. The door was torn down in the 1950s, but we could still see the gauge marks on the ground.
