14 Days in Shaoxing

Settle downtown along Cangqiao Straight Street — the UNESCO Asia-Pacific heritage award came in 2003 — with a river-side dinner to start.

1. shaoxing cangqiao street

Lu Xun (1881-1936) was born behind the native-place gates and left for Nanjing in 1898; the free blocks take a reservation, and the Xianheng tavern downstairs serves fennel beans from the stories.

1. shaoxing luxun native place

At Lanting, 42 literati gathered in 353 and produced the 324-character Orchid Pavilion Preface; the calligraphy festival runs each spring since 1985.

1. shaoxing lanting

The Shusheng Quarter keeps the lanes tied to Wang Xizhi (303-361); the Song-dynasty Bazhi Bridge, nationally listed in 2001, crosses the canal nearby.

1. shaoxing shusheng quarter
2. shaoxing bazhi bridge

East Lake's quarries date to the Han dynasty; take the black-awning boat under the cliff walls, then the ridge path above for the reverse angle.

1. shaoxing east lake

On Kuaiji Mountain the mausoleum grounds hold the public rites to Yu the Great each Grain Rain, a ceremony revived in 1995.

1. shaoxing dayu mausoleum

Laundry, tea houses and a slow loop of the river lanes — two-week trips live on these days.

1. shaoxing cangqiao street

The paired wall poems — Lu You's Chai Tou Feng of 1151 and the reply attributed to Tang Wan — read better with the morning light; the garden's evening stage show runs most nights.

1. shaoxing shen garden

Northwest in Keqiao, Anchang runs its La Yue festival every twelfth lunar month, a tradition renewed since 1999; the clerk-adviser museum explains the town's shiye trade.

1. shaoxing anchang town

Keyan's quarry cliff carries the 30-metre Yungu stone; the adjacent Luzhen park, opened in 2003, stages the fiction streets of Lu Xun's stories.

1. shaoxing keyan

A county day — Zhuji, about an hour southwest by rail, keeps the halls tied to Xishi of the Spring-and-Autumn period, some 2,500 years back; the Wuxie gorge beyond stacks its falls in five tiers.

1. shaoxing xishi hometown

A labelled neighbour day — Hangzhou is a separate prefecture with its own independent pages on this site. The HSR covers the 20 minutes to West Lake and the Qinghefang quarter, returning by evening.

1. hangzhou

A second labelled neighbour day — about an hour east by HSR to Ningbo for the Tianyi Pavilion library, founded in 1561, and the drum-tower quarter, returning by evening.

1. ningbo

The yellow-wine museum walks through the jiuqu fermentation and the Jian Lake water tradition; a last market lunch, then the HSR — Hangzhou is 20 minutes away.

1. shaoxing yellow wine museum
2. shaoxing city markets