By Chinese standards Nanjing is a really nice city. It's not as big and busy as Shanghai and Beijing but it has many interesting historic attractions, lots of tree-lined streets, great restaurants, kind-hearted people, nine of China's "key" (best) universities and a fairly bustling economy. It is the provincial capital of Jiangsu Province, the wealthiest province in China. Chinese provinces are something like American states; they each have their own governments and characteristics.
Now that you have some idea of the place I'd like to give you a little flavor of life here; not the sort of facts you find in guide books but the details you notice when you live in a place that is not your home country, the things that strike you as a bit strange, perhaps. One of my favorite aspects of Nanjing is its street life.
When you wander about Nanjing you notice all kinds of behavior that you don't see in American cities. Most people live in small apartments; some still live in little one- to-two-room brick houses without toilets, while the very poorest live in shanty towns. For many of the city's residents and floating population - people who do not have residence permits but have floated in from the countryside or other cities - life is lived largely on the street. There are always people, sitting and talking, selling their wares, walking, bicycling, or buzzing along on motorcycles. You see people sitting outside on the sidewalk playing cards, brushing their teeth, cleaning vegetables, and butchering meat. Workers transport ducks in little trailers attached to their