Meiling Palace is located on Xiaohongshan Mountain to the east of Ming Xiaoling Mausoleum in Nanjing. It was built in 1931 and is also known as Xiaohongshan Official Residence. As the couple Song Meiling and Chiang Kai-shek often came here for vacation, it is called ‘Meiling Palace’. It is one of the very spectacular and elegant buildings in Nanjing. The exterior of the building features yellow walls, red columns, and a roof covered with green glazed tiles.
There are more than 1,000 phoenixes carved on the roof, and beautiful colored paintings are drawn under the eaves, giving people a sense of Chinese palace-like magnificence. At the entrance of the building is parked a Buick car specially given to Song Meiling by the United States. The building has one basement floor and three floors above ground, basically arranged as it was during the lifetimes of the Chiang Kai-shek and Song Meiling couple. If you overlook the panorama of Meiling Palace, you will unexpectedly find that Lingyuan Road is like a necklace, the mountain road on Hongshan Mountain is like a pendant on the necklace, and Meiling Palace is like an emerald inlaid on the pendant. It is said that this creative idea was put forward by Song Meiling. The layout of the building: The basement floor is mainly for cooking, with a kitchen, a boiler room, a laundry room, etc. The first floor is mainly a place for staff to work, with a reception room, a guard room, guard dormitories, a secretary’s bedroom, a secretary’s office, etc. The second floor is mainly a place for receiving guests. There is a magnificent banquet hall. The Western-style long dining table can accommodate nearly 20 people to dine at the same time. Through the hall, you can reach the ‘convex’-shaped terrace. There are 34 phoenixes carved on the 34 white marble railing columns. Now there is a ‘First Lady Cafe’ here. You can drink coffee and order an ice cream on the terrace. The third floor is mainly a place for the owner to live and is also the essence of Meiling Palace. The confidential secretary room is close to the bedroom. The secondary bedroom is outside and is arranged according to the living habits of soldiers. It is stable and clean. There is a wedding photo of the Chiang Kai-shek and Song Meiling couple hanging on the wall. The master bedroom is inside. It is fully furnished with mahogany furniture. There are large floor-to-ceiling windows on both the east and south sides. Because Song Meiling believes in Christianity, the living room is made into a prayer room called Kai Ge Tang. The small dining room for two people to have private meals has an elevator leading to the kitchen on the basement floor. After the dishes are cooked, they are directly sent up through the elevator. There are candles for candlelight dinners on the delicate dining table. In the bathroom, you can see the bathtub for Song Meiling to take milk baths. Now the bathroom seems a bit old, but all the tiles used back then were imported.Opening hours: Open all year round from 07:30 to 18:00.
Preferential policies: Children: Children under 6 years old (inclusive) or under 1.4 meters (inclusive) in height are free. Elderly: Elderly people over 70 years old (with valid identity documents) are free; elderly people aged 60 (inclusive) to 70 (exclusive) years old (with valid identity documents) are half price. Students: Minors over 1.4 meters (exclusive), aged 6 (exclusive) to 18 (inclusive) years old, full-time undergraduate and below students (need to bring student ID cards to the ticket checkpoint for verification) are half price.
Personnel holding the ‘Preferential Treatment Certificate for Veterans of the People’s Republic of China’ and the ‘Preferential Treatment Certificate for the Surviving Family Members of Martyrs, Servicemen Who Died on Duty and Servicemen Who Died of Illness of the People’s Republic of China’ are exempt from admission tickets in accordance with relevant regulations.
Free for fire rescue personnel: Fire rescue personnel (including on-the-job, retired, disabled fire rescue personnel, fire rescue academy students and full-time government firefighters) are exempt from admission tickets with valid identity documents. Free for people with disabilities: People with disabilities are exempt from admission tickets with valid identity documents; severely disabled people (disability level 1 and disability level 2) can bring one accompanying person to enter the scenic area for free; those with lower limb disabilities can bring non-motorized wheelchairs or motorized wheelchairs with legal license plates to enter the outdoor places of the scenic area. Free for individuals with honors: Individuals who have won the National Blood Donation Contribution Award, the Non-remunerated Donation of Hematopoietic Stem Cells Award and the Lifetime Honorary Award for Volunteer Service in Blood Donation and the honorary title of courageous acts for justice in Jiangsu Province are free. Free for medical personnel in Nanjing: According to the spirit of Document No. 120 of Nanjing’s Prevention and Control Office [2022], from January 2023 to December 2025, medical personnel in Nanjing themselves (holding valid work certificates and resident identity cards issued by medical and health institutions within Nanjing) can bring 1-2 immediate family members to visit Meiling Palace for free with valid proof of immediate family members.
