14 Days in Wenzhou

The river islet Governor Xie Lingyun versed in 422, its twin pagodas long used as navigation marks — the ferry crossing runs about five minutes — then the walking street and drum tower that keep the old city's commercial spine.

1. wenzhou jiangxin islet
2. wenzhou wuma street

Up to Yueqing for the evening show — the night rocks of Lingfeng, where silhouettes refold with every few steps of the path, and a village guesthouse under the peaks.

1. wenzhou lingfeng peaks

The daytime half — a column of water some 190 metres at Dalongqiu in caldera cliffs about 128 million years old, and the rope-walking acrobats of Lingyan performing on the cliff face twice a day.

1. wenzhou dalongqiu falls
2. wenzhou lingyan cliff

West into Yongjia county for the shallows — bamboo rafts, river-smoothed stones and swimming holes between the bends.

1. wenzhou nanxi rafting

Cangpo keeps its 1178 brush-and-inkstone ground plan in working order; nearby Furong runs on a seven-star, eight-dipper layout inside Ming-era walls.

1. wenzhou cangpo village
2. wenzhou furong village

Morning galleries holding the Northern Song painted-clay figures recovered from the White Elephant Pagoda, then an evening along the canal lanes of Nantang with the food carts out.

1. wenzhou city museum
2. wenzhou nantang street

A slow city day — riverside morning market, an afternoon of teahouses, an early night before the southwest run.

1. wenzhou nantang street

Southwest into Wencheng county, the home county of the 1311-born strategist Liu Bowen — the waterfall runs three tiers, the first said to drop 207 metres, loudest after summer rains.

1. wenzhou baizhangji falls

On to Taishun for the twin timber arches at Sixi, braided beams spanning without nails — the wooden arch craft entered UNESCO's urgent-safeguarding intangible lists in 2009.

1. wenzhou taishun bridges

East across the causeway bridges to the fishing islands — the half-screen cliff of Banpingshan, harbour fish lunches and a wind that smells of the open sea.

1. wenzhou dongtou islands

An honest out-of-city day, labelled as such — east into Taizhou's Xianju county for the Shenxianju stone peaks and their cliff-hung walkways, about two hours each way.

1. wenzhou shenxianju peaks

A neighbour-city day, labelled as such — west into Lishui for the painters' village on the Ou river, where the Tongji weir, first cut in the sixth century, still splits the water for the fields.

1. wenzhou lishui guyan huaxiang

Back in town for a last ferry loop past the pagodas and a walking-street dinner — tickets and bags sorted for the morning.

1. wenzhou jiangxin islet

A market breakfast off the old street, then the rail or flight out of the old port.

1. wenzhou wuma street