Presidential Palace of Nanjing

The Presidential Palace (Chinese: 總統府; pinyin: Zǒngtǒng fǔ) in Nanjing, Jiangsu, China, housed the Office of the President of the Republic of China from 1927 until the capital was relocated to Taipei in 1949. It is now a museum called the China Modern History Museum. It is located at No.292 Changjiang Road (formerly Lin Sen Road), in the Xuanwu District of Nanjing.

In the Ming dynasty, the site, west of the Ming Palace, was home to the manor of the Prince of Han Zhu Gaoxu. In the Qing dynasty, it became the Office of the Viceroy of Two Lower Yangtze Provinces, the chief government official in charge of what is today Jiangsu, Shanghai, Anhui and Jiangxi. When Qianlong visited the Lower Yangtze, he chose this office to be the detached palace together with the Imperial Silk House. Today, "Daxinggong" (lit. the Great Detached Palace) Station of Nanjing Metro Line 2 is named after it.

In 1853, Taiping Rebellion forces led by Hong Xiuquan occupied Nanjing. The palace was expanded and converted into a luxurious palace for Hong, called the Palace of the Heavenly King, or the Celestial Palace.

In 1864, Qing imperial forces re-took Nanjing. Commander Zeng Guofan ordered to destroy most of the palace by fire. He had a new palatial residence in 1870 and later imposing government buildings for the Qing Governor-General erected in the Neoclassical style, and in accordance with contemporary protocol.

After the Xinhai Revolution in 1911, Sun Yat-sen was sworn in at the former Governor-General's palace, now the "Provisional Presidential Palace", as the provisional President of the Republic of China. He kept offices here for a while.

However, China soon fell into the post-revolution Warlord era, and the Palace was not officially used by the Republic of China until 1927, when the Northern Expedition of Kuomintang (KMT) captured Nanjing. As the Nationalist Government, they transformed the Presidential Palace and adjacent buildings into the Headquarters of the Nationalist Government of the Republic of China. Premier Chiang Kai-shek had his office in the palace.

During the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945), Chiang Kai-shek's government fled to Chongqing, and the Headquarters was occupied by Wang Jingwei, who collaborated with the invading Japanese.

Text adapted from “Presidential Palace (Nanjing)” on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Presidential Palace of Nanjing ranks #635 of 7,738 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #18 of the 115 mapped in China. Its Wikipedia articles were opened 10,419 times in the last 60 days, more than 93% of the atlas. 5 more atlas landmarks stand within 25 km. The nearest day-trip guide is Nanjing, 2 km away. See how China compares in the castle statistics.

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