Welcome to Nanning!

During my first week in China, I noticed a number of adverts on Chinese TV proclaiming the merits of "China's greenest city - Nanning" which at the time was hosting the 2006 China-ASEAN summit, there was also something else going on there too, which I forget, but it was getting plenty of media attention at the time. I was planning on going there sometime during my time in China to meet 娟-Juan (English name Jane), and also as it is a gateway to Vietnam which I want to visit, but I had no idea when or for how long I would stay. Well, then this wedding invite appeared from Jane and so I rushed down to Nanning for that and ended up staying for a whole month ! It turned out to be a good, relaxing, fun time, Jane and I got on really well, had great fun and enjoyed our time together, doing many things and a month just flew by.

First there was the wedding, for which I had to buy some slightly tidier clothes than what I already had in my backpack, but clothes can be relatively cheap here in China. So my first day in Nanning - with help from Jane - I explored some of the shopping centre of Nanning which helped to find my way around this new city. With the wedding over, we met up a few times with the wedding couple Jane & Jeff for dinner, visited the people's park, went boating on the lake, played some bowling, visited a couple of discos etc and explored more of Nanning, among other things.

Renmin Park or People's Park is a big green sanctuary in central Nanning, with a boating lake, small fairground, monkeys, skating rink, lotus ponds, bridges and many, many trees. It's a lovely peaceful place to wander around for a while and float around on the lake, feeding or chasing fish. In the centre of the lake is a bridge that is regarded as the symbol of Nanning.


Left: Boating in Renmin Park
Right: This bridge is a symbol of Nanning, so I'm told.

There was also the Camelia Park, named after the tree common in this park, an even quieter park than Renmin with locals sititng around playing mah jong enjoying a relaxing lifestyle in amongst the greenery and small streams. It was outside of this park that I found one of the many bits of badly translated Chinese to English phrases found all over the country, commonly know as 'Chinglish', it said:

"Welcome to Nanning, the Green and Hospital City of Guanxi"

Near to where I was staying is Chaoyang Square, a small square in the city centre where many of Nanning's residents gather daily to play music, sing, dance, play cards, chinese chess or mahjong and relax in the shade of the trees. Card games especially, attract large crowds, chinese chess and mahjong also do so at times. The old traditional Chinese instrument an erhu referred to by someone as a 'chinese guitar' even though it's nothing like a guitar, was a common sight in the park as well as other parts of town, where I even saw blind men playing the instrument. One Sunday morning there was also an outdoor orchestral & choral performance in Chaoyang Square. Music, exercise and game playing is certainly a key to life here.

Another park and the largest of all is called 'green mountain'. It's a huge nature area with forests, temples, parks, lakes and activities in which you could spend days wondering around. This is a little further away but very beautiful, a great place to spend a relaxing day away from the city atmosphere, despite still being in the city.

In the evenings ona big square in front of the large municipal offices, you can see groups of people taking part in dancing or tai ji classes, or just performing on their own. Every evening there are a lot of people there taking part, and it's nice to sit alongside and watch, especially the tai ji, which can also includes people performing with swords, spears or other accesories.


Left: Jane & Jane at a Renmin park fair ride.
Right: Dancing in the moonlight in one of Nanning's squares.