5 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, and the city museum ties the story together.

1. jiaxing zicheng park
2. jiaxing yuehe old street
3. 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

Haining, under Jiaxing's administration, 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, standing 1-2 m high on peak days.

1. jiaxing yanguan tide park

A market breakfast, Meiwan's quiet riverside blocks, then the HSR from Jiaxing South — about 30 minutes each way to Shanghai and Hangzhou for onward trains.

1. jiaxing meiwan street
2. jiaxing city markets