Come to Nanjing in Winter to Admire an Urban Ink Painting

During winter in Nanjing, a bit of coldness survives under the warm sun, and everything is shaped impressively. For every stop or looking back, you may see a frame of Chinese ink painting, which boasts atmospheric and solemn beauty, as well as flexible and arbitrary playfulness. The painting depicts a snowflake falling; a drizzle silently going; a wisp of the warm sun gently pouring; and a wintersweet flower on the branch alone, standing. It rolls out both intensively and quietly, infiltrating every passing pedestrian.

(Photo: Wintersweet at Xiaoling Tomb of Ming Dynasty; Source: Nanjing Municipal Administration of Culture and Tourism)

Winter in Nanjing always comes slowly with drizzle and cold wind. The rain drops on the puddles and falls from the eaves of buildings. It lacks the lingering of spring rain and the wantonness of summer rain, and clusters beauty, atmosphere, simplicity and continuation. The cool and moist winter rain softly rolls out the winter ink beauty of the Qinhuai River.

As such, Nanjing becomes Jinling in mist.

(Photo: Nanjing as Beautiful as an Ink Painting; Source: Nanjing Municipal Administration of Culture and Tourism)

During the first snow in winter, the sky is inundated with snowflakes, maximizing the historical feeling of Nanjing and making you recall the ancient Jinling City. Jiming Temple, Nanjing City Wall of the Ming Dynasty, Xiaoling Tomb of Ming Dynasty, Chaotian Palace, Zijin Mountain, Qinhuai River and Confucius Temple are set off by snow; red walls and yellow glazed tiles are covered by snow, looking at which, you fell nothing but intoxicated. A snow in Jinling makes you intoxicated by the world.

(Photo: Snow at Yuejiang Tower; Source: Nanjing Municipal Administration of Culture and Tourism)

The sunshine pours down after snowfall, covering the whole city with a warm tone. Every brick, tree, and grass is coated with a gentle filter. The whole city is plated with a thin layer of warm gold in winter, making it look more gentle.

In addition to the winter, hot delicacies also help with the job by giving us their tenderness.

In the cold winter of Nanjing, steaming food can always arouse our inner energy for us to expel the coldness and embrace the warmth. From outer warmth to inner warmth, the happiness of winter lingers around us. A sip of the steaming duck blood soup with vermicelli or the chicken soup with a little lucid fat in it ought to be the best winter cuisine you have. However, Nanjing in winter offers you more. The steaming rice glue balls with osmanthus and red bean, the roasted sweet potatoes, and many others show up before you one after another. Come taste them to experience the blandness of Nanjing's winter.

(Photo: Sugar taro seedling; Source: Nanjing Municipal Administration of Culture and Tourism)

Coldness makes the sun even more precious. In Nanjing, you may follow the sunshine to seek wintersweet flowers in Zhan Garden or Meihua Mountain, sniff the blossom fragrance, look for beauties in the forest, and relax your mind in the fragrance of flowers; go to Chishan Lake in Liuhe District to admire migratory birds standing on the treetops of the aquatic forest, swans swimming freely in the water, and swan geese flying high or hovering low, and enjoy the peace of winter there; or head to a bookstore, pick up a table by the window, get a favorite book, take some hot tea, allow the sun to pour down on you, and let your thoughts carry out a wonderful dialogue with the author of the book, by all of which you enjoy the fun of winter.

(Photo: Singularity in Nanjing; Source: Nanjing Municipal Administration of Culture and Tourism)

Nanjing in winter is gentle and quiet, as well as long-drawn-out. Like a cup of strong tea, the winter spills its tea fragrance slowly to infiltrate every corner of the city, and reveal a piece of naughtiness. The winter is engraved on red walls and gray tiles, in rains and snows, and under the warm sun. It is hidden in the steaming cuisines, in the wintersweet flowers at treetops, in the migratory birds moving south, as well as in the bookstore.

You may seek it by being in it.