7 Days in Nantong

The Nantong Museum, founded by Zhang Jian in 1905 as China's first public museum, sits by the moat dug in 958; a night boat loops the water.

1. nantong bowuyuan
2. nantong haohe river

Langshan rises barely 105 m from the Yangtze, its Guangjiao temple founded in 669; Junshan tops the five hills at about 108 m, and the riverside greenway links them.

1. nantong langshan
2. nantong junshan

Zhang Jian, the 1894 top graduate, set up the Dasheng mill in 1895; wheels turned from 1899 and the red-brick works are now the 1895 cultural block.

1. nantong tangzha ancient town
2. nantong dasheng mill

An hour west in Rugao, one of Nantong's county-level cities, the Ming-era water garden pairs ponds and pavilions with old-town streets; an unhurried county day.

1. nantong shuihui garden

To the easternmost point of Jiangsu, where the Yangtze finally joins the Yellow Sea, then the landing of the day's catch at Lüsi, among the country's best-known fishing ports.

1. nantong yuantuojiao
2. nantong lvsi fishing port

Labelled honestly as another city — an hour or so by rail to Suzhou for the 2006 museum building by I. M. Pei and the flagged lanes of Pingjiang Road.

1. nantong suzhou day

A slow morning in the temple quarter — the old Sijie lanes and the Tang-era Tianning temple — then an afternoon train or flight from the city that the 2020 Yangtze rail bridge tied to Shanghai.

1. nantong sijie old street
2. nantong tianning temple