Originally Posted by jiejie

A minor issue is where your colleague needs to be in Nanjing. The airport is annoyingly far from the central city but if his destination is somewhere "out there" then morning flight is OK--barring notorious Beijing ATC and/or smog delays.

I agree with moondog that I'd probably stick to the PEK arrival strategy, but since it requires an overnight stay anyway, I'd choose a hotel in the city for that overnight, in the same general area as Beijing South Station, and bullet train out the next morning. Train will arrive right into Nanjing city. Trains start running at 07:00 am and there are 12 G trains (the fastest type) leaving between 7-10 am, generally arriving in 3.75 to 4.5 hours later depending on train. Usually cutoff for buying tickets is 30 minutes in advance of departure (need passport) but except at holiday or major trade show times, there should always be last minute walk-up tickets. The bullets are a nice experience.

I'd check out PVG departure for the return though.