5 Days in Yiyang

About 70 km from Changsha, the city keeps three stone-paved port lanes — Yulingpo, Denglong and the Wei-family lane — from the Ming and Qing. Settle in, walk them, and take the Zi River promenade after dark.

1. yiyang ming qing ancient lanes
2. yiyang zi river waterfront

An hour west, the groves around the Peach Blossom River run to roughly a million mu across Taojiang county, some 670 km2, and a 1930s popular song about the river still plays in the town below the hills.

1. yiyang taohuajiang bamboo sea
2. yiyang city markets

Two hours northwest, the county seat Dongping holds the China Dark Tea Museum, opened in 2015, beside the old wharf streets. Tasting counters explain the 1595 government-tea edict and the 36.25 kg thousand-tael tea logs.

1. yiyang dark tea museum
2. yiyang city markets

The old tea route south of town passes Dongshi old street and its stone-slab lane, then the Qing-dynasty Yongxi covered bridge — a long timber span rebuilt many times, always by village subscription. Return to Anhua for the night.

1. yiyang anhua tea horse road
2. yiyang yongxi bridge

Back in the city, the village of Qingxi preserves the former residence of novelist Zhou Libo (1908-1979), whose 1958 novel Great Changes in a Mountain Village is set here. A market lunch, then the HSR south — Changsha is about half an hour away on the line completed in December 2022.

1. yiyang qingxi village
2. yiyang city markets