I had been living in Nanjing, Jiangsu, China for the past eighteen years. However, the two only Nanjing districts that I am familiar with are Hexi and Xinjiekou (XJK). I lived in Hexi and commuted to XJK for school. While Nanjing is almost too big for me to experience or talk about, Hexi and XJK are truly like my hometown.
As an international student in the US, my lens is special: I want to see Nanjing again based on my travel experiences in Manhattan since I discovered so many unforgettable resemblances and flashbacks.
Picture by my parents ten years ago, Hexi
Hexi: Upper East Side
Hexi takes up about 10% of Nanjing’s total area and is located in the southeast. It is a vast upscale residential neighborhood. My family and I moved there when I was about to attend primary school. Since the first day I was in Hexi, I fell in love with its casual and laid-back environment: everybody just tried to live their simple lives. With plenty of open spaces and charming trees, walking around Hexi’s wide, leafy streets is always enjoyable and relaxing.
Away from the hustle and bustle of XJK, this quiet and lush neighborhood also offered me great life experiences: I would work out in a nearby Olympic sports center, spend my leisure time in various cultural and art museums, hang out with my close friends in China’s largest shopping mall, and travel with my families on weekend in the 200,000 square meters large natural wetlands park.
Picture by upcoming Cornell URS freshman, Zhongshang Road
XJK: Times Square
XJK is Nanjing’s central business district in the geographical center of Nanjing. While only possessing a small 0.3 square kilometers area (0.036% of Nanjing’s total area), it has already been China’s largest commercial intersection and one of the busiest tourist destinations (more than 1 million visitors per day on holidays) for the past 10 years.
I engaged with XJK mostly by watching theater shows and exploring small but unique restaurants. Like Times Square’s Broadway, Chinese Grand Theater is usually my go-to. I always purchased the ticket the night before. Once school ended, I would sprint 10 minutes just to catch up to the show, but I would often be 5 minutes late.
After tasting every famous restaurant in XJK, I desired to discover some eateries that only I knew. The solution was simple but effective: ask the most experienced eaters in the XJK district. They are, obviously, diner’s managers and owners. Now, I believe 90% of restaurant owners in XJK know that there was a professional food critic called Asher.
My mother is a city planner for the Nanjing Hexi district. She and some of her colleagues always have this ambition to make Nanjing famous. “It is going to be the next Manhattan someday. Not Shanghai, but a place called Nanjing.” I used to think this is just a fantasy and daydream, but after writing this blog, I am amazed by their achievements. But after all, Nanjing is Nanjing — it is already the best.
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