Advanced Search

The story appears on

Page A13

November 26, 2014

GET this page in PDF

Free for subscribers

View shopping cart

Related News

Home » City specials » Hangzhou

Wild wetlands and peaceful old villages

By Xu Wenwen | November 26, 2014, Wednesday | Print Edition

WEEKEND trips that involve a short drive, an overnight stay in a hotel, a soak in a hot spring and local delicacies are increasingly popular in Zhejiang Province since more families now own a car.

The cities of Hangzhou, Huzhou, Jiaxing and Shaoxing are promoting what they call the “City Circle” tour to promote tourism. Each city is less than two hours from the others and have numerous attractions to keep travelers busy over the weekend.

The route does not include the most famous sites such as Hangzhou’s West Lake or Jiaxing’s Wuzhen Town in each city as these are already well known. Instead, Shanghai Daily offers lesser known attractions.

Today and next Wednesday, scenic sites in the four cities will be introduced. Today Shanghai Daily recommends two wetlands and two ancient towns. Next week we will feature two hot springs and a lake near the sea.

Tuying Wetland and Xixi Wetland

An old boat glides across the water and passes through a stretch of reeds as ducks rest nearby. A flock of egrets fly past. This is one of the scenes common in Tuying Wetland in Changxing County, Huzhou City. The wetland is famous for its variety of birds.

As a part of Taihu Lake, the country’s third largest freshwater lake, the wetland covers more than 3 square kilometers with about 66 percent of it being water.

There are more than 20 islands and seven are open to tourists. Visitors seem happy to spend a leisurely afternoon on these small islands for sightseeing, fishing and relaxing.

The large feather-like flowers of reeds blossom at this time of year and birds are seemingly everywhere. There’s also a farm where dozens of scarecrows, some of which resemble cartoon characters like Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck, vie for attention.

The maple, ginkgo and evergreen trees are also lovely at this time of year.

Xixi Wetland has been open since 2006 and the Hangzhou Tourism Commission is now promoting a fishing tour. Take a boat captained by a fisherman into the inner wetland, cast a net with him, then draw it back in and prepare to take pictures of your catch.

The tour costs 1,180 yuan with up to five people on a boat. The fish you catch will be served for dinner after the tour ends.

The wetland also boasts abundant reeds with their white floppy cotton-like catkins in bloom.

Anchang Ancient Village and Meihua Ancient Village

Shaoxing is an industrial city known for its textile business but it retains some places like Anchang Village that make it seem like a century ago.

Anchang has largely been untouched by redevelopment making it all the more authentic. The village boasts a river that reaches Shanghai, Hangzhou and Ningbo, which helped the town develop a market for rice, cotton and fabrics.

Photography enthusiasts will likely enjoy taking pictures in Anchang as old bridges and pavilions make for some great scenery. With a good attitude and a friendly disposition, you may also be able to entice a few locals into posing for a photo.

Under the eaves, many homes hang strings of sausages, which also compete for attention along with homemade soy sauce in big vats that glimmer in the sun.

Meihua (plum flower) Ancient Village in Jiaxing dates back about 1,500 years and is famous for a Stone Buddhist Temple with two ginkgo trees said to be nearly 1,000 years old.

The town also features numerous arch bridges common in the Yangtze River Delta area.

The romantic name is derived from the village’s topography, which from an aerial view looks like a plum flower since five rivers pass through the area.

Hangzhou


 

Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.

沪公网安备 31010602000204号

Email this to your friend