Yuejiang Tower

赛项：2014年第四届南京市导游大赛

选手：史慧倩（三等奖）

选送：秦淮区旅游局

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

关键词点击

天妃宫

天妃宫，位于南京市鼓楼区下关狮子山麓，是明成祖朱棣为感谢天妃娘娘妈祖等诸神护佑郑和航海平安而敕建，与静海寺相邻，是中国海上丝绸之路以及郑和下西洋的重要历史遗存之一。

天妃宫始建于明永乐五年（1407年），史称龙江天妃宫。是郑和首次下西洋回国后，以海上平安为天妃神灵感应所致，奏请朝廷赐建。郑和在以后的六次下西洋出航前和归航后，都专程前往龙江天妃宫祭祀妈祖。

天妃宫屡遭战火，历代均有修葺，解放后多次修缮，现占地面积5000平方米，由东西两轴线院落组成。每年妈祖诞辰之日（农历三月二十三日），南京民间赶庙会习俗一直延续至今。2012年11月，南京天妃宫作为中国海上丝绸之路项目遗产点之一，列入中国世界文化遗产预备名单。

知识拓展

陈友谅

陈友谅（1320年至1363年），湖北沔阳黄蓬（今洪湖市黄蓬）人；元朝末年群雄之一。农民起义领袖，中国元末大汉政权建立者。

1351年，徐寿辉起兵，建立天完政权，友谅投效其将领倪文俊麾下。1357年九月袭杀反徐寿辉的倪文俊，自称勤王，自称宣慰使，起兵攻下江西诸路，连克江西、安徽、福建等地。

1359年，杀天完将领赵普胜，挟徐寿辉，迁都江州（今江西九江），自立为汉王。次年，攻陷鸠州，杀徐寿辉，随即登基称帝，国号汉，改元大义，以邹普胜为太师，张必先为丞相。

1363年，陈友谅率六十万水军进攻朱元璋，但在鄱阳湖大败，陈友谅也在突围时中流箭而死。

陈友谅死后，张定边等人在武昌立陈友谅次子陈理登基为帝。次年，朱元璋西吴军廖永忠部兵临武昌城下，陈理出降。