Hangzhou-Shaoxing Day Tour
With its long history, unique folk culture, numerous renowned scholars, writers and poets, Shaoxing has long been one of the most important tourist cities of China. Travel to Shaoxing, get close to Chinese history.
This morning, you will be picked up at your hotel in Hangzhou and driven around 40 minutes to reach Shaoxing city.
Upon arrival, you will pay a visit to Great Dayu′s Mausoleum. Dayu, a great hero having been respected for thousands of years . He′s credited with teaching people how to tame the rivers and control floods.
Next stop is Orchid Pavilion. Almost everyone in China knows the site because of a great calligrapher named Wang Xizhi. In the 4th century AD, Wang organized a party attened by poets at Orchid Pavilion. He devised a literary game. The poets sat on the banks of a small stream and they floated a small cup filled with wine downstream. Whomever the cup stopped in front, he had to compose a poem or drink the wine as penalty. At last Wang compiled the poems into an anthology and wrote its preface which became the famous Lanting Preface to the Orchid Pavilion.
Have lunch at local restaurant, taste some local wine. Shaoxing is the home of the fineset Chinese rice wine.
In the afternoon, take a visit to Lu Town, the hometown of Luxun, one of the greatest writer of 19th century. The town is rebuilt with the original flavor described in Luxun′s novels. The architecture style and atmosphere is typically Shaoxing. Being a water city, Shaoxing have many ancient bridges and waterways. It′s a unique experience boating on the rivers in Shaoxing because of the unique boat type. With a black awning, the small and narrow boat is called Wupeng boat. The rowers usually wear traditional Shaoxing Wuzhan hats. Sitting in a wupeng boat while watching the street scenes floating by is a defining Shaoxing experience.
Later, you will be driven back to Hangzhou. End of your memorable trip in Shaoxing.