China Guide
Jiangsu and Zhejiang
The Presidential Palace
Opening time: Daily 8am–5pm
Price: ¥30
Address: 15min walk from Xinjiekou, on Changjiang Lu
The former seat of government under both the nineteenth-century Taipings and the Nationalists, the Presidential Palace is located in the Suzhou-esque garden, Xu Yuan. Both palace and garden were built more than six hundred years ago for a Ming prince, and were subsequently turned into the seat of the provincial governor under the Qing. In 1853 the building was seized by the armies of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and converted into the headquarters of Taiping leader Hong Xiuquan. After the overthrow of the Qing, it became the Guomindang government's Presidential Palace. It was from here, in the early decades of the twentieth century, that first Sun Yatsen and later Chiang Kaishek governed China. Visiting the palace today, you'll see exhibitions on the Taiping Uprising and the life and times of Sun and Chiang.