5 Days in Lishui

An hour southwest of downtown, the weir has watered fields for about 1,500 years since its start around 505 and joined the first World Heritage Irrigation Structures list in 2014; the painting town across the river keeps its easels out until dusk.

1. lishui guyan huaxiang
2. lishui tongji weir

Seventy km east, Qingtian's stone carving joined the first national intangible-heritage list in 2006, and the county counts roughly 330,000 people living across more than 120 countries — hence the coffee houses; at Shimen Gorge young Liu Ji is said to have studied.

1. lishui qingtian stone carving
2. lishui shimen cave

Ninety km northeast, the 5A scenic area's 170.8-m Dinghu Peak faces the Yellow Emperor shrine; on the way back, Heyang's grey-tiled courtyards hold a thousand years of clan life.

1. lishui xiandu
2. lishui heyang old village

Seventy-five km southwest, terraces run to 700 layers over a 1,200-m vertical range; sunrise at Jiuqu Yunhuan, then the Ming-silver White Silver Valley and Kenggen's stone lanes.

1. lishui yunhe rice terraces

West to Suichang, where mining goes back to the Tang dynasty and a pit train runs into the old workings; the Tang Xianzu memorial recalls the poet-magistrate of 1593-1598, his years overlapping The Peony Pavilion of 1598, then back to Lishui for the evening train.

1. lishui suichang gold mine
2. lishui tangxianzu memorial