Plum Blossom Hill

Plum Blossom Hill is a small hill at the southern foot of Purple Mountain in Nanjing, to the southwest of Dr. Sun Yat-sen's Mausoleum, and south of Xiaoling Mausoleum of the Ming Dynasty. Together with Plum Blossom Garden at its foot, covering an area of more than 1,500 acres (247 acres), Plum Blossom Hill has nearly 500 varieties of plum blossom, and more than 30,000 trees of plum blossom. It’s called “the world of plum blossoms” and ranked top of the Four Plum Gardens in China, the other three being: Kunshan Dianshan Lake Plum Garden, Wuxi Plum Garden, and Wuhan East Lake Plum Garden.

The planting of plum trees started in Nanjing during the Three Kingdoms Period more than 1,500 years ago. East Wu Emperor Sun Quan, and his wife Mrs. Bu are laid here to rest here, thus this hill used to be called Sun’s Tomb Hill or Wu Emperor’s Tomb. In 1929, Sun Yat-sen was buried near the hill, and a large number of plum trees were planted here as a memorial flower garden. As the garden became larger, its former name was forgotten and replaced by Plum Blossom Hill.

Plum Blossom Hill is well-known in China for the distinctive assortments of plum trees. Since 1958, the government planted many rare kinds of plum. The most precious variety is the Biejiao Wanshui tree, with more than 45 petals on each flower and sweet fragrance.
 The best time to pay a visit is during February or March, the flower season of plum blossoms. The Nanjing International Plum Blossom Festival is also held then. Tourism peaks with over 100,000 visits per day. At the end of March and beginning of April, after the plum blossom season, the whole hill is covered in pink hues, and continues its beauty and charm with more than 4,000 cherry trees blossoming.
 This veranda was built in 1947 on the top of the hill. It used to be Wang Chingwei’s Tomb which was blown down afterwards and reconstructed into a pavilion. At north side of the Plum Blossom-Viewing Veranda is Boai Pavilion built in 1993, the stele of which was selected from Sun Yat-sen’s original handwriting. And at the east of the veranda is Jiangsu-Fukuoka Friendship Cherry Garden constructed in 1996.
 It’s a tourism restaurant built to the northeast of Plum Blossom Hill in 1982. Visitors could enjoy the plum trees view from the second floor while having dinner there. It’s named after a classical Song poem, which means gentle fragrance floating serenely in moonlight. Nearby are Yongmei Room, Shuying Hall, and Zhichun Pavilion, connecting with each other by winding corridors.
 With the total area of 72,000 square meters (86,000 square yards), this new plum garden was built at the east side of the hill in 1992. Not only plum trees, but also cherry, acacia and Taxodium ascendens trees were planted here to form a beautiful garden. Xiangwuya Pavilion and Lengxiang Pavilion are located in the garden, with colorful wall paintings covered by yellow glazed tiles.
 It’s built to honor the relic of Sunquan’ s Tomb and inside are over 100 varieties of Japan plum trees.
 Take metro line 2 to Muxuyuan Station, or bus no. 20, or tourist line 3 to Mingxiaoling Parking Lot Station, or no. 315 to Meihuagu South Gate Station.
 There are 3 bus lines running to the hill sites, respectively: from Dr. Sun Yat-sen's Mausoleum to Golden Water Bridge, from Dr. Sun Yat-sen's Mausoleum to Wei Bridge, and from Linggu Temple to Golden Water Bridge.
 

Admission Fee	CNY70 for the combo ticket of Xiaoling Mausoleum of Ming Dynasty includes a visit to this hill and other attractions in this district. CNY100 for the combo ticket of Purple Mountain includes a visit to this hill and all the other attractions on this mountain.
Opening Hours	March-October: 6:30-18:30 November-February: 6:30-18:00