Xinjiekou is an ancient place name in Nanjing and a famous commercial center. However, before 1929, it was just a deserted ordinary old-style neighborhood. There were many open spaces and ponds behind the houses along the street. The construction of the capital began in 1929. Xinjiekou Square has a square plane with a side length of 100 meters. The interior is a large circular lawn with a diameter of 16 meters, and outwards are an 8-meter-wide circular pebble parking lot, a 9-meter-wide flower bed made of cement composite soil, a 20-meter-wide circular asphalt roadway, a 5-meter-wide Circular cement concrete sidewalk.
Four arterial roads with a width of more than 40 meters intersect here: Zhongshan East Road, Zhongzheng Road, Hanzhong Road and Zhongshan Road, forming a circular square in the middle, separated by a bronze statue of Sun Yat-sen.
In December 1937, before the Japanese army occupied Nanjing, a huge bomb model was placed in the center of Xinjiekou Square. This model was made for an air defense exhibition after the Air Defense Committee of the Military Commission of the Nationalist Government was established in 1935. It was intended to remind people to be wary of Japanese air raids.
On November 12, 1942, on the eve of the 76th anniversary of the birth of Dr. Sun Yat-sen, Wang Jingwei moved the bronze statue of Dr. Sun Yat-sen, which had been placed in the Central Army Military Academy since 1929, to the center of Xinjiekou Square .
During the Republic of China, the Xinjiekou area was the transportation, financial, and commercial center of Nanjing. Four main roads, Zhongshan Road, Zhongshan East Road, Zhongzheng Road (today's Zhongshan South Road) and Hanzhong Road, converge here. The place is bustling with traffic all day long. There are Bank of Communications, China National Bank, Continental Bank, Zhejiang Industrial Bank and Juxingcheng Bank, etc., forming a banking district, making this place China's "Wall Street". There are many restaurants such as Fuchang Hotel, Dashanyuan Restaurant, Tongqinglou Restaurant, and 369 Restaurant, which are full of feasting and feasting. There are many shops such as Central Shopping Mall and Li Shunchang Clothing Store. Influential newspapers such as "Joongang Daily", "Joong Press", "Xinmin Daily" and "Rotary Daily", as well as entertainment venues such as Dahua Theater, Xindu Grand Theater, World Theater and Central Stage are also gathered here. Xinjiekou. Xinjiekou became the core of Nanjing at that time.
On April 23, 1949, the Chinese People's Liberation Army occupied Nanjing. At 17:30 on July 6, a grand military parade was held in Xinjiekou.
During the "Cultural Revolution", the bronze statue of Dr. Sun Yat-sen standing in Xinjiekou Square was transferred to the Sun Yat-sen Cemetery Management Office for preservation. On March 12, 1985, it was placed in front of the Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall in the Sutra Collection Building.
In May 1983, the Jinling Hotel built at the northwest corner of Xinjiekou Square was completed. The Jinling Hotel was invested by Tao Xinbo, an overseas Chinese from Singapore and a native of Nanjing. It was 37 stories high and 110.40 meters tall. It was the tallest building in China at the time and a landmark building in Nanjing.
In 1989, the Nanjing Municipal People's Government erected a "Golden Key" sculpture in the center of Xinjiekou Square. It is composed of three upright golden keys and a silver ball, symbolizing Nanjing. The people use the three magic weapons of science, democracy, and the rule of law to open the door to modernization.
On November 12, 1996, in commemoration of the 130th anniversary of the birth of Dr. Sun Yat-sen, the Nanjing Municipal People's Government remade a bronze statue of Dr. Sun Yat-sen and placed it in the center of Xinjiekou Square. The bronze statue is 5.75 meters high (including the base, which is 11.12 meters high) and weighs 6.2 tons. The bronze statue faces north. It is wearing a suit, coat, vest and tie. It holds a civilization stick in its right hand and steps forward with its left leg. It is based on the background of Dr. Sun Yat-sen's inauguration as the interim president of the Republic of China in Nanjing in 1912. It captures the momentary image of Mr. Sun Yat-sen running and walking for the revolution and solidifies it into a permanent picture.
Before 2001, Xinjiekou Square had always been a roundabout-style building. In 2001, due to the construction of Nanjing Metro Line 1, the square was demolished and the bronze statue of Sun Yat-sen (1996 version) was moved. In September 2009, the ground construction of Xinjiekou of Metro Line 2 will be completed. In May 2009, the return of the bronze statue of Sun Yat-sen also aroused discussions from all parties. The smaller bronze statue of Sun Yat-sen cast during the Republic of China was also related. The department was included in the plan to return the bronze statue to Xinjiekou.
In August 2009, the "Xinjiekou Square Reconstruction Plan" was completed. Taking into account the Nanjing Metro Line 2 project under construction, it is expected that the 1996 version of the bronze statue of Sun Yat-sen will return after the Spring Festival in 2010. Xinjiekou.
The plan is to center the bronze statue of Sun Yat-sen and expand it into a roundabout with a diameter of 8 meters. A paved road with a width of one meter will be added to the periphery of the roundabout. The entire center will eventually be a roundabout with a diameter of 10 meters. At the same time, the surrounding landscape is mainly green, and the landscape has flowers in three seasons and is evergreen all year round.
On the evening of May 19, 2010, the "Bronze Statue of Sun Yat-sen", which had been away from the Xinjiekou Central Square in Nanjing for more than 9 years, was officially moved back, and the bronze statue was changed to face the south.