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China Travel Festivals

Landscape of Water Counties South to Yangtze River

Nanjing Qinhuai River Temple of Confucius

Qinhuai River, called 'the beauty of the Six Dynasties (222-259)' in ancient times, is the main river in Nanjing. During the Ming Dynasty lamped boats on Qinhuai river were peerless. The sounding of their drums would last for the whole night.Now the Qintuai River has undergone renovations for many times, on it there are many antique buildings with caved beams and paintied rafters.

Temple of Confucius on the bank of Qinhuai River is a good place to study folklore of Nanjing . A lamp fair is held from the first to the 18 th on the first lunar month every year. During the lamp fair tourists can visit the Museum on lmperial Examination System of the Southem Yangtze River Gong Academy . They can participate in an imitation of imperial examination. They can ride on a gaily painted pleasure boat, do sightseeing on the Qinhai River full of lamps and sounds of rowing oars. In the Confucius Temple there are paintings, calligraphy, potted landscape, folk handicrafts, collection of stones and martial arts performances through which tourists can know better of the ancient Chinese culture

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Suzhou Silk Museum

In the museum there are exhibitions of silk products in ancient and modem times, ancient designs of silk products and development of silk production in ancient China. The great variety of silk products, belonging to different periods in Chinese history, will impress the visitors deeply.

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Tongli Town

Situated on the bank of the Tai Lake and 27 kilometers away from Suzhou, the 62.54-sq-km town has got a beautiful landscape and surrounded by waters . With all its houses built by water, it is the best preserved water town in jiangsu Province. There are several hundreds of mansions and gardens in the town, which is basically in the style and layout of the Ming and Qing dynasties. Ginkgo, camelia and lacebark pine of several hundred years and other rare plants and flowers are well preseyved in the town.There are also many famous historical sites. The exquiste and elegant 'Tuisi Park' is peculiar in architectural style. The whole garden seems to float on water.

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Folklore Museum

The address of the museum is:32 Panru Lane, Suzhou . In the museum there are exhibitions on the deveiopment of local culture and customes of northern Zhejiang and southem jiangsu in the long precess of Chinese history. There is a hall on weddings and one on festivals. There are also exhibitions on food , famous cuisines , famous snacks, kitchen wares, tabewares and cookery.

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Ancient Town of Zhouzhuang

Zhouzhuang Town is located at the juncture of Qingpu, Wujiang, Wuxian and Kunshan counties. In 1086 , the first year of the reign of Emperor Zhezong in northern Song Dynasty (960-1127)a man named Zhou Dihad his own mansions pulled down and donated 13 hectares of land fo build up a temple. The piece of land was called 'zhouzhuang (Zhou Mznsions)' by the local people. Later villages were fomed on the land which still later became a water town but retained the original name of Zhouzhuang.

Zhouzhuang has a very tranquil atmosphere, with antique buildings. Now it has retained the original layout and style of the water town 900 years ago. More than half of the residences were builat up during the Ming and Qing dynasties. Now there are more than 100 ancient mansions and more than 60 gateways with brick carvings. The Shen's House and Zhang's House are typical Ming and Qing residences south of the Yangtze River.

Zhouzhuang is surrounded and crisscrossed by waterways. There are many small brigdes. Now there are 10 ancient bridges, elegant and simple in style, with twigs and creepers hanging down the stone arch, and covered with liver mosses . The town, with its streets, docks, ferry places and banks, is a typical water town. Low houses along the river , buildings cross over a street, stone tablet roads, all of primitive simplicity, are attractive to the tourists.

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Luzhi Town

Located on the bank of Wusong River and 25 kilometers away from Suzhou , Luzhi Town is a famous ancient cultural water county. The main river crossing the town is called Liuzhipu and therefore the town has another name, Liuzhi. The town is famous for its waterways and bridges. In the 1.1-sq-km land there are 40 buidges built up in the Song, Ming and Qing dynasties and after 1911. Old sayings likd, 'two bridges in three steps' distance' and 'all families on rivers' describe the place. Women's costumes are very peculiar in Luzhi. They wear a bun, a blue headkerchier, and a Chinese style gament with bottons on the right and colorful aprons.Entering the place, tourists feel they have entered a land of peace away from the turmoil of the world.

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Wuxi Folklore Village in Wuxi

Located in the suburbs of Wuxi and occupying an area of 25 kilometers, the 1,300-m-long village includes art works, cultural relics and gardens reflecting the folklore, culture and history of Wu area. Scenic spots include, Yunwu Gate, Jiazi Hall, Cansang Lane, Wujia Village, Humanity Musenm, Wu Art Museum, Moderm Economic Development Museum and Museum on Wu Religion and Culture, Wu Residence and Daofenxu.

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Huangshan Ancient Tunxi Street

In the east of Tunxi City, the street, about 1,000 meters long, is paved with flag-stone. Two-story ancientstyle buildings, with white walls and black tiles , line the street. As the buildings are of the style ofthe Southern Song Dynasty, the street has become known as 'Song Street.'Overseas tourists call it 'ancient Rome in the East.'

Tunxi Street was built during the Ming and Qing dynasties . It was once destroyed by fire but rebuilt afterward. It now has 42 old-fashioned shops.The street appeals to tourisis with its ancient archtecture and taste of traditional Chinese culture.

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Ming and Qing Archways at Tangyue Village

Tangyue Village, six kilometers from Huicheng Town, is famous for the seven archways of the Ming and Qing dynasties. From the outside into the village, the first five archways are of Qing style, each having four pillars. The other two, of Ming style, have four pillars and three floors. The roof stone is carved with curling grass. Between the fourth and fifth archways is a road bend, where a square, single-eaved pavilion stands. Its name , Congbu Paviling, was written by famous Qing-Dynasty calligrapher Deng Ru. The seven archways still remain intact after several hundued years of wind and rain. The archways, the most numerous in the province, stand as fine examples of Anhui sculptues.

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Hong Village

Located 10 kilometers northeast of Yi County, the village is famous for its enchanting mountains and waters. Some artists praize it as 'the most beautiful village in China.' The village is shaped like an ox lying leasurely beside a stream in front of a mountain. A crescent-shaped pond in the village is the stomach of the ox; a 400-meter river winding through the village is the intestines; the four wooden bridges across the Yushan Stream in the west of the village resemble the four feet.

The water system of Hong Vllage not only provides sufficient water for the residents, but also contributes to the comfotable climate in the area.

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Xidi Village

Xidi Village,eight kilometers east of Yi County, is 700 meters from east to west and 300 meters from north to south. Ancient residential buildings resemble a ship when you view them from a high place. As many as 122 of them still remain intact today, which is very rare in the country. Some foreign experts and scholars praise them as a treasury of ancient Oriental architectural art.

The buildings used to have white walls and black tiles, but the sun and rain over the years have reduced them to a greyish white color. They give a strong sense of remote times in the midst of a green forest.

The courtyavds are paved with green flag-stone or colorful pebbles arranged into various designs. Some are decorated with artificial hills, fish ponds and flower beds. Different flowers bloom all the year round, giving out a pleasant fragrance.

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To Spend a Day as Shanghai Resident

Shanghai, with its modem industries, also has many tourist attractions, such as the Yuyuan Garden, Yufo (jade Buddha) Temple, the Bund, Yuyuan Street, Caoyang New Village, and Baoshan lron and Steel Corporation . If you want to experience the life of an ordinary Shanghai resident, You can spend a day with a local family. You practice taijiquan (shadow boxing ) in the early morning. Afterware you go to the free market to but vegetables, together with the elderly of the family. You learn to prepare a few Shanghai dishes and eat at the same table with your host family, which may have three generations under the same roof. A great deal of fun.

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Morning Exercise and Night Scene at the Bund

The Bund along the Huangpu River starts from Waibaidu Bridge in the north and ends at East jinling Road in the south, with a totai length of 1.5 kilometers. Both sides of the Bund are lined with tall, iush Chinese parasol trees, ideal for sports-lovers to do morning exercises. When the sun sets and the road lamps are tuned on, many lovers come here to have a qulet time of their own. To the west of the Bund stand a number of foreign-style buildings. Their different appearances, the tree-and-flower-decorated Bund, and the many big ships shuttling to and fro on the Huangpu River, fom a symbolic picture of Shanghai.

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Shikumen Residential Quarter

The buildings at Shikumen form a sharp contrast with the skyscrapers of Shanghai. Here the buildings have only two or three stories, built on three or four sides of a courtyard. Those built more recently have bigger rooms but lower height between different floors . Some also have a small room on the platform between two floors.

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Hangzou Tea Museum

The Tea Museum, built on the bank of the West Lake, is of typical southern style, with its many corridors and pavilons. On display are exhibits featuring tea probuction techniques and tea culture of different periods; tea sets and tea samples of different times and localities; tea ceremonies and drinking habits of Fujian, Sichuan, Yunnan and Tibet.

The museum often putson tea ceremonies for visitors, who can also have a try at picking tea leaves and enjoy various fun of the tea culture.

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Huqingyutang Traditional Chinese Medicine Museum

Hangzhou' famous Huqingyutang Medical Shop is now the country's only museum of traditional Chinese medicines. It introduces the origin, forms, development and application of traditional Chinese medicine, and its position and role in Chinese and world medical history. The museum also tells the characteristics of China's famous traditional pharmaceutical factories and the devcelopment of Huqingyutang. Visitors can also study samples of herbal medicines and observe the preparation process of different medicines. The museum has invited traditional medical experts to offer service or consultation to those who need it. The museum restaurant features dishes that are of both nutritioal and medical value.

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Ningbo Baoguo Temple

Baoguo Temple is located in the surburbs of Ningbo, built along a mountain slope. The whole templeis built of entire wood, without a single nail. It is one of the most ancient wooden stuctures in the country. Looking down from the temple, one can enjoy a charming scene of green fields and the Yong River dotted with white sails.

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Tianyi Pavilion

Located to the northwest of Moon Lake in western Ningbo, the pavilion,built in 1561, is the oldest library in China . It now holds a collection of more than 300,000 books, a treasury for the study of ancient Chinese history, customs, astronomy, geography,geology and hydrology. The pavilion , in graceful ancient style and surrounded by green bamboo, is like a beautiful garden.

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Shaoxing Xianheng Hotel

Built in southern architectural style, Xianheng is a three-star hotel catering to overseas tourists. One of its restaurants is a Chinese style bar.

The name of the hotel comes from a short story by famous Chinese writer Lu Xun. Its style and layout also follow descriptions in the story. Chinese paintings and calligraphy scrolls add an ancient grace to the hotel. The great variety of famous Shaoxing wines and giant wine barrels are typical examples of the hospitality of Shaoxing people. Local delicacies include shrimp dumplings, crystal cakes, chicken with glutinous rice , winesoaked crab, spiced beans, salty peanuts and dried beancurd.

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Black Awning Boat

Shaoxing is a famous water town in south China, crossed by many rivers and canals. There are as many as 4,000-odd bridges in the city. Visitors can take a tour of Shaoxing on a black-awning boat. The boatman wears a black felt hat and rows the boat with foot paddies. While the boat goes through countless bridges, guests enjoy the unique view on both sides of the rivers.

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  Information provided by China National Tourism Administration.

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