Yuejiang Tower

賽項：2014年第四屆南京市導游大賽

選手：史慧倩（三等獎）

選送：秦淮區旅游局

Dear guests, welcome to Nanjing. Today I'll show you around to share Nanjing's history with you. Please sit back and enjoy the bus tour.

Now, we are on the way to Yuejiang Tower Scenic Area, which is located in the Northwest of the city. To your left do you see an awe-inspiring tower? That is the Yuejiang Tower. Yuejiang Tower is standing on the top of Lion Mountain. The mountain is as high as 78 meters and near the bank of the Yangtze River. When you go up to the tower, you will understand what its name “Yuejiang” means—— to enjoy the view of the Yangtze River. The 52-meter tall tower is an L-letter shape when viewed from above, its main wing faces north and the secondary wing faces west, taking on a unique “corner of two surfaces”. Viewing from the exterior, the tower seems to have four floors, though in fact, there are seven floors in the tower with some mezzanine floors.

Now we are passing the earliest railway station Nanjing West Railway Station. It was first constructed in 1908, and was rebuilt as Nanjing Xiaguan Railway Station by Kuomintang government in 1930. After liberation in 1949, the station was under reconstruction and renamed as Nanjing West Station, the name which is still in use. The station had once been the flourishing transportation center in East China.

Do you remember the tower we passed before? According to the historical records, Yuejiang Tower has existed 600 years, but it was not actually constructed until 2001! Let me tell you the story. In the Ming Dynasty, the founding emperor Zhu Yuanzhang defeated his long-standing rival Chen Youliang here and planned to build a tower in memory of this victory. He named the tower as Yuejiang and ordered civil ministers to write articles with the title of Record of Yuejiang Tower. This construction plan was cancelled due to financial difficulty and other imperial business, and for several centuries the building only remained on paper. In 2001, Yuejiang Tower was eventually finished in a historically accurate style and opened up to the public, which became the fourth most famous tower in China, following Huanghe Tower, Yueyang Tower and Tengwang Tower.

Here on the left side of the road, we have Nanjing Jinghai Temple, where the Sino-British Treaty of Nanking was signed, which was the first unequal treaty in Chinese history that humiliated the nation and forfeited its sovereignty.

On your left now you are seeing Tianfei Palace, a temple in honor of the Godness Mazu. The temple covers an area about 17,000 square meters. It was built in the Ming Dynasty in 1470, when Zheng He, the great navigator came back after his first voyage. Zheng He made Mazu his spiritual guide, he believed that the Goddess Mazu could protect their safety on the sea. He proposed to build a monument in honour of Mazu. Emperor Zhu Di gave the approval to build Tianfei Palace and wrote the inscription on the tablet to eulogize Mazu's virtues. Zheng He offered sacrifices to Mazu in the temple before and after his journey in the following six voyages. Now the Temple is still a worship site for people from home and abroad.

Now, in front of us is Yifeng Gate, which is one of the 13 city gates built in the Ming Dynasty. In the Ming and Qing Dynasties, this gate was the main channel to the Yangtze River of Xiaguan area, which played an important strategic role in the periods of Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, the Republic of China and and Anti-Japanese War.

Dear guests, we are arriving at Yuejiang Tower. Please follow me to enjoy more interesting stories and marvelous scenery. Thank you

關鍵詞點擊

天妃宮

天妃宮，位于南京市鼓樓區下關獅子山麓，是明成祖朱棣為感謝天妃娘娘媽祖等諸神護佑鄭和航海平安而敕建，與靜海寺相鄰，是中國海上絲綢之路以及鄭和下西洋的重要歷史遺存之一。

天妃宮始建于明永樂五年（1407年），史稱龍江天妃宮。是鄭和首次下西洋回國后，以海上平安為天妃神靈感應所致，奏請朝廷賜建。鄭和在以后的六次下西洋出航前和歸航后，都專程前往龍江天妃宮祭祀媽祖。

天妃宮屢遭戰火，歷代均有修葺，解放后多次修繕，現占地面積5000平方米，由東西兩軸線院落組成。每年媽祖誕辰之日（農歷三月二十三日），南京民間趕廟會習俗一直延續至今。2012年11月，南京天妃宮作為中國海上絲綢之路項目遺產點之一，列入中國世界文化遺產預備名單。

知識拓展

陳友諒

陳友諒（1320年至1363年），湖北沔陽黃蓬（今洪湖市黃蓬）人；元朝末年群雄之一。農民起義領袖，中國元末大漢政權建立者。

1351年，徐壽輝起兵，建立天完政權，友諒投效其將領倪文俊麾下。1357年九月襲殺反徐壽輝的倪文俊，自稱勤王，自稱宣慰使，起兵攻下江西諸路，連克江西、安徽、福建等地。

1359年，殺天完將領趙普勝，挾徐壽輝，遷都江州（今江西九江），自立為漢王。次年，攻陷鳩州，殺徐壽輝，隨即登基稱帝，國號漢，改元大義，以鄒普勝為太師，張必先為丞相。

1363年，陳友諒率六十萬水軍進攻朱元璋，但在鄱陽湖大敗，陳友諒也在突圍時中流箭而死。

陳友諒死后，張定邊等人在武昌立陳友諒次子陳理登基為帝。次年，朱元璋西吳軍廖永忠部兵臨武昌城下，陳理出降。