THINK about the Minhang District and the first impression likely to flash across the mind is a development hub crowded with factories.

But the district does have a softer, more scenic side that is just starting to come into its own. Picturesque watertowns, tranquil rural villages, thrilling amusement parks, fashionable streets and antique museums offer panoply of tourist attractions.

The district recently held a photography contest to challenge both professional and amateur photographers to focus on some of Minhang's most famous spots. The competition was staged as part of celebrations marking the recent Tourism and Shopping Festival and the upcoming National Day holiday.

We are publishing some of those photos, but remember that you don't need a camera to enjoy the attractions of Minhang. Just a good pair of walking shoes will open up all the wonders captured by the lenses.

Food and fun route:

Hongqiao and Qibao

Minhang is not only a district for sight-seeing but also a great place for taste-tempting.

The Hongmei Leisure Street has something for every palate, serving cuisines from around the world.

Cao Jing, a 26-year-old banking industry worker who lives in the Changning District, said she often comes to Minhang just to enjoy the food.

"I love Indian and Spanish food," she said. "And Hongmei has both."

The 500-meter-long street features Western architecture and restaurants specializing in Korean, Indian, Iranian, French, German, Dutch, Spanish, Japanese and Chinese fare. It's a popular meeting place for expatriates missing their home cooking or wanting to try an entirely new cuisine.

The road is also dotted with bars and bakeries. Tantalizing aromas mingle with laughter and conversation along the street.

For many Shanghai residents, the Jinjiang Amusement Park is not simply a park but a slice of childhood memory.

Located on Hongmei Road and serviced by Metro Line 1 and various bus routes, the park opened in 1985 and was the first large amusement park of its kind in Shanghai.

There's no end of thrills on tap. The park boasts a classic pirate ship, flume ride and newly opened 4D cinema, the Crazy Flywheel and the Motorized Roller Coaster rides. The ferris wheel is the park's landmark.

"I still remember clearly when my mother took me to the park to celebrate my 11th birthday," said 28-year-old Pan Yi, who lives in Shanghai's Hongkou District.

The Yinqixing Ski Site is China's first indoor skiing facility. It's equipped with snow-making machines that powder an indoor ski trail 380 meters long and 80 meters wide. The indoor temperature is kept at minus 2 degrees Celsius. The facility can accommodate up to 1,000 people at a time and offers slopes of varying difficulty levels. The steepest slope is at a 17-degree angle; the bunny run is a mere 12 degrees.

The Xijiao Xinqiao Industrial Park is a favorite gathering spot for artists and collectors. The former site of a sweater factory has been redeveloped to feature a glass workshop, an antique furniture pavilion, a pottery exhibition area displaying zisha (purple clay) teapots and a private museum with a collection of 1,770 inscribed boards.


Maqiao and Xinzhuang

The site of the ancient civilization of the Maqiao people is located in the village of Yutang in the town of Maqiao. The Maqiao culture was centered around the region of Taihu Lake. Its heartland is symbolized by a belt-shaped shell mound called Zhugang.

The land at the site was inhabited about 5,500 years ago, in what archeologists say was a transitional period between the Songze and Liangzhu cultures.

By the Xia Dynasty (around 2000BC) and the Shang Dynasty (1600BC-1046BC), the site had evolved into the largest village in the Taihu region and is considered the most authentic example of social life at that time.

The site, which covered an area of more than 150,000 square meters, was first unearthed in 1959 with digs that found 1,000 artifacts. Most were earthenware. Stoneware and small pieces of bronzeware were also excavated.

Next stop: the Minhang Museum at 85 Mingdu Road. The museum was relocated to the Chunshen Culture Square to make way for construction of the massive Xinzhuang transport hub.

The museum, established in 2003, has two main exhibit halls - one depicting ancient Maqiao culture and one housing the Chinese National Musical Instruments Exhibition. In Maqiao exhibition hall, visitors can view pottery from the ancient civilization, stone tools used around 3,000 years ago and some bone artifacts. The exhibition of traditional Chinese musical instruments is also worth a look.

On display are more than 300 Chinese instruments, including bamboo flutes, the Chinese stringed pi-pa, gongs and drums.

The Chunshen Culture Plaza is an ideal place for art and literary buffs. It now encompasses the Minhang Archive Museum, the Minhang Library and the Shanghai City Theater, a 1,000-seat performing site for drama, ballet and concerts.


Qibao and Pujiang

The famed Qibao Old Town has become a glittering calling card of Minhang's burgeoning tourism industry. It's certainly a landmark site no conscientious tourist wants to miss.

"All my family members have visited the town at least once - from my 61-year-old father to my two-year-old son," said Shi Lifeng, who lives at Minhang's Gumei area.

The town is renowned for its beautiful water scenery and abundance of delicacies.

Like other water towns of the Yangtze River Delta, Qibao is characterized by exquisitely carved old stone bridges, quaint residences, historical artifacts, tasty snacks and a proliferation of red lanterns hanging from delicate eaves. It manages to retain the style and environment of an ancient village, despite the hordes of tourists it hosts.

The old street dates back to the Northern Song Dynasty (960-1127). Qibao literally means "seven treasures." Legend has it that there were seven treasures in the area: a gold lotus scripture written by an imperial concubine during the 10th century, a magic tree dating back a thousand years, a bronze bell, an iron Buddha, a golden cockerel, jade chopsticks and a jade axe.

The street was built near the confluence of two rivers and flourished as a trade center for centuries.

Today, you have to maneuver your way through the crowds of hungry people who come here to enjoy some of the best food Minhang has to offer. Among the local specialties are deep-fried tofu, plain sliced lamb, crab apple cake, tangyuan (rice balls or sweet dumplings) and smelly bean curd.

For a long time, Qibao was the only water town in Minhang. That's changed with the recent reopening of Zhaojialou Old Town.

Zhaojialou has yet to attract the volumes of tourists that characterize Qibao, making it a more tranquil sanctuary for urban dwellers.

Zhaojialou literally means "the crop-calling tower." It's said that in the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), an official built a bell tower there to chime reminders of cultivation times. The water town was founded in the Yuan Dynasty (1279-1368) and thrived in the Ming Dynasty. Many ancient buildings, streets and bridges of the Ming and Qing dynasties survive to this day.

Zhaojialou boasts three famous local specialties: distinctive local distilled liquor, mutton and pork shanks.

It's also the hometown of Qin Yubo, the local land god of ancient Shanghai County, and Ye Zongxing, a water engineer of the Ming Dynasty who helped connect Suzhou Creek with the Huangpu River in what is now downtown Shanghai.

The Li Garden is one of its most famous attractions in Zhaojialou. In Chinese, Li means "propriety."

The garden is considered one of the finest examples of the Jiangnan style of park. It features long corridors, pavilions, a pagoda decorated with flowers and outcroppings of rocks. Two small lakes and small rivulets complete the pastoral setting.


Qibao and Maqiao

Jiang Feng identifies himself as an "old" Minhang resident, though he's only 33. He's referring to his birthplace in Jiangchuan, from whence modern day Minhang developed.

The assistant regional supply manager said his favorite spot in the district is the Minhang Sports Park.

"It is a good place for every age group," said Jiang. "The air is fresh, and everyone can find some exercise to do."

There, middle-aged couples dance, seniors practice their tai chi and youngsters roller skate. When you step into the Minhang Sports Park, the first sports-themed complex in Shanghai, you will find it is hard to remain immobile amid so much enthusiastic activity.

The 840,000-square-meter park is dotted with a wide variety of sports facilities and greenery. It is home to the Minhang Sports Stadium and the famous Dino Beach. There are courts for basketball, table tennis, badminton, tennis and gate-ball, as well as an indoor swimming pool.

Activities also include kite-flying, bicycling, jogging, fishing and even boating.

As the biggest urban green belt in southwestern Shanghai, the park boasts a central lake of over 75,000 square meters and a 6,040-square-meter wetland ecological garden.

The Shanghai Qizhong Tennis Center provides seating for 15,000 people and includes professional courts. This year's Shanghai Rolex Masters, Asia's only ATP Masters 1000 tournament, will be staged at the center from October 8-16.


Maqiao and Zhuanqiao

Autumn is one of the best times to enjoy parklands that offer an escape from the crush of urban life.

The Hanxiang Water Expo Park is more than just a water wonderland; it's a natural hideaway that's a work of art in itself.

The park, covering about 800,000 square meters, its along the Huangpu River amid streams, trees, pavilions, rock formations and replicas of ancient dynasty buildings.

It was built as an ecological protection barrier around one of Shanghai's major sources of drinking water. It sits astride the area where the ancient Maqiao people lived more than 3,000 years ago.

Visitors can sit in the riverside gardens, sipping tea and inhaling the fresh air of autumn. They can stroll through a bamboo forest, rest their legs alongside an exquisite pavilion, do a little fishing or marvel at the richness of Chinese culture. It is a slow-paced environment where you can daydream and let the rest of the world go by.

Inside the picturesque garden, there are dozens of stones more than 10,000 years old. Some, including the Lingbi and Taihu stones, each weigh a hundred tons. Many of the stones are said to possess magical shapes: a girl reading, a monk in contemplation, a bird flying, a boat floating.

The Shanghai Beiqiao International Horticultural Exposition Garden has been called "a natural oxygen bar" for urban dweller seeking a bit of respite from city pollution.

This hidden gem in Zhuanqiao is famous for its breathtaking garden landscapes. A stroll through the garden takes visitors a world away from urban Shanghai.

The garden covers 57,600 square meters and is a great place to take pets for a walk.

It offers advice on flower arranging and sells bonsais, root and wood carvings, paintings, clay teapots, porcelain and calligraphy works.

In Minhang, there are also a number of farms such as the Taojiawan Farm and the Pujiang Modern Nongqing Farm, where people can fish, pick fresh vegetables and fruits, and wander around amid unspoiled natural beauty.