14 Days in Jiaxing

The lake island took shape in 1548, when dredged silt was piled up for Yanyu Tower. The wooden boat tied to the closing of the 1921 congress rests beside the island, and the Memorial Hall founded in 1959 presents the documented record.

1. jiaxing south lake
2. jiaxing nanhu memorial hall

Zicheng preserves the core of a walled town first raised in 231 AD under the Wu kingdom; Yuehe rebuilds canal-house lanes along the moat, best with a riverside dinner after dusk.

1. jiaxing zicheng park
2. jiaxing yuehe old street

The Majiabang culture, named for the site excavated from 1959, reaches back some 7,000 years — rice husks pressed into its pottery are among the lower Yangtze's oldest known.

1. jiaxing majiabang museum
2. jiaxing museum

An honest county note — Wuzhen lies in Tongxiang, a county-level city under Jiaxing. The HSR from Jiaxing South takes about 15 minutes to Tongxiang, then 20 minutes by shuttle to the water town's Xizha gate.

1. wuzhen xizha

Another county under Jiaxing — Xitang in Jiashan, about 30 km northeast, holds a kilometer of covered riverside corridors behind its 95-yuan ticket, best entered as the lamps come on.

1. xitang

Haining runs its bore twice a day all year; the calendar peak falls around the lunar eighth month's eighteenth day, usually late September or early October, when the straight-line tide crosses as a single wall.

1. jiaxing yanguan tide park

Haiyan county, south along the coast — a lagoon shut between hill and sea, with a causeway walk and quiet fishing villages; about an hour by car from downtown Jiaxing.

1. jiaxing nanbei lake

A market breakfast and a slow moat-side afternoon; sleep early before the Hangzhou overnight.

1. jiaxing city markets

An honest neighbour-city label — Hangzhou is the provincial capital, about half an hour south by HSR. Ride out for a lakeside evening and overnight near the water.

1. hangzhou west lake

Second Hangzhou morning under the hillside temple founded in 326 AD, tea terraces beyond; the midday train returns to Jiaxing by early afternoon.

1. hangzhou lingyin temple

The second honest neighbour day — Shanghai, about 30 minutes east by HSR; the Bund, Nanjing Road and a museum stop, back by the evening train.

1. shanghai the bund

A second pass through Yuehe at an unhurried hour — canal-side breakfast, tea houses, and the lamplight loop after dinner.

1. jiaxing yuehe old street

Meiwan's riverside blocks at an easy pace, a last market breakfast the following morning, luggage packed for the HSR.

1. jiaxing meiwan street
2. jiaxing city markets

A final market breakfast, a last moat walk, then the HSR from Jiaxing South — half an hour each way to Shanghai and Hangzhou connections.

1. jiaxing city markets