Nanjing · Neighbourhood ·
Gulou Academic District
鼓楼学府 · Nanjing's university belt north and west of the Drum Tower — Nanjing University, Hohai University, Nanjing Normal University, with the Republican-era and Communist-era academic infrastructure in a continuous belt.
About this neighbourhood
Nanjing has been a major university city throughout the modern period. Nanjing University, the strongest single institution, traces its lineage to the Liangjiang Academy (1888) and Republican-era Central University; its Gulou Campus retains substantial Republican-era buildings, including the original Beida-style library, the Mao Zedong-named "Mao Mao Lou" residential complex, and the Wu Jianxiong Hall.
Nanjing Normal University's Suiyuan Campus, immediately west of Nanjing University, is the former campus of Ginling College (Jin Ling Nu Zi Da Xue) — the women's college founded by American missionaries in 1915. The campus retains the most coherent set of Republican-era American-mission architecture in China; its 1923 Sage Hall is one of the finest surviving examples of Chinese-revival academic buildings.
Hohai University, in the same quarter, is one of China's leading civil-engineering and water-resources universities. Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics is in the surrounding district. The early-PRC Chinese Academy of Sciences institutes — the Astronomical Observatory at Purple Mountain, the Nanjing Geology and Palaeontology Institute, the Geography and Limnology Institute — sit in the Drum Tower / academic district as well.
The combination has produced a particular district character: dense bookstores (Xianfeng Books on Beijing East Road is one of the most respected independent bookshops in China), bookstore-cafes, modest student housing, and an unhurried pace that contrasts with Nanjing's faster commercial districts.
What to see
Nanjing University Gulou Campus (Republican-era buildings), Nanjing Normal University Suiyuan Campus (Republican-era), Hohai University, Nanjing University of Aeronautics, the early-Communist-era science-research institutes, the Beijing East Road academic corridor.
What to eat
Student-canteen-priced casual dining around the campuses; bookstore-cafes; small Hong Kong-influenced restaurants in the older academic blocks.
Transit
Metro Lines 1, 4 Gulou; Metro Line 1 Zhujianglu (cycling and walking distance to many campuses).
Where to stay
Limited tourist-class accommodation; chain business hotels around the metro stations; service apartments rented to visiting academics. International-class hotels are in nearby Gulou or Xinjiekou.
Hazards & notes
The campuses are gated and require ID at most entrances — visitors typically join university tours or contact a friend with student credentials.