Xuanwu Lake · Taicheng

A Six Dynasties royal garden lake known as "Sangbo" (one of the largest imperial garden lakes in China); its five islets (Huanzhou, Yingzhou, Liangzhou, Cuizhou, Lingzhou) are linked by dikes and bridges; from the top of the Taicheng section of the Ming city wall (built 1386) you can frame Jiming Temple and Zifeng Tower together in one view. Xuanwu Lake became a royal preserve from the Southern Qi dynasty on and was a forbidden zone for the Ming Yellow Registers archives — "one lake holding two dynasties": the five central islets are joined by long dikes, with cherry blossoms on Huanzhou and ginkgoes on Liangzhou shifting with the seasons; the Taicheng wall is the most photogenic stretch of Nanjing's Ming city wall — from the top, Purple Mountain lies to the east, while to the west Jiming Temple's Yaowang Pagoda and Zifeng Tower frame past and present together; the misty Six Dynasties waters of "a thousand li of oriole song with green mirroring red" find a tangible footnote here, making it a golden route for an old-Nanjing citywalk.

Getting there: Metro Line 1, Xuanwumen Station