7 Days in Xuzhou

At Shizishan, 4,000-plus terracotta figures turned up in 1984 and the Chu king's rock-cut tomb yielded 2,000-plus relics. See the gold-threaded jade suit — 4,000-plus plaques — at the free museum (closed Mondays) the same afternoon.

1. xuzhou han culture scenic area
2. xuzhou museum

About 7 square kilometres of lake, free to walk. The 142-metre hill holds the pavilion from Su Shi's 1078 essay; the free pictorial-stone museum by the south shore closes the afternoon.

1. xuzhou yunlong lake
2. xuzhou yunlong hill
3. xuzhou han pictorial stone museum

The Guishan corridors, 56 metres long, deviate just 1/16000 from the centreline; fifteen chambers cover 700-plus square metres. Afternoon in free Peng Zu park, named for the sage said to have lived 800 years.

1. xuzhou guishan han tomb
2. xuzhou pengzu park

Ming-Qing courtyards climb above the old city; Xima Terrace remembers Xiang Yu, capital-maker of Pengcheng in 206 BC. Huilongwo's lanes and a bowl of sha soup close the day.

1. xuzhou hubu hill
2. xuzhou xima terrace
3. xuzhou huilongwo

The memorial park on Fenghuang hill is free to enter, generally 9:00-17:00 and closed Mondays — check the official notice before going; the campaign ran 66 days from November 1948 to January 1949, and the grounds keep a factual register of it. Walk off the visit in the old town's Kuaizai pavilion park nearby.

1. xuzhou huaihai memorial
2. xuzhou kuaizai ting park

About 30 km north-east in Jiawang district, Pan'an Lake was carved by decades of coal mining and reborn as a wetland park — boardwalks, reed beds and herons. A half day suffices; combine with a late lunch back in town.

1. xuzhou panan lake wetland

Honestly labelled — Taierzhuang belongs to Shandong's Zaozhuang city, 1.5-2 hours by road from Xuzhou. The canal-side old town was rebuilt from 2008 after wartime destruction, and its night lights are the reason to linger; evening buses return, or sleep in the old town and detour home tomorrow.

1. xuzhou taierzhuang old town