Zhejiang - Walk through China

Author: Travel China Editorial Department
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-05-01
Features: For those who decide to travel to Zhejiang, it must be because of its landscapes, folk customs, or unique cuisine. Before setting off, it might be a good idea to flip through this book. Focusing on self-guided travel and more on human geography, this book organizes Zhejiang's human geography in a visually appealing way, helping you first establish an emotional connection with the place and making your trip more enriching and enjoyable! This book is part of the "Travel China" series, which serves as a self-guided travel book series primarily providing practical information. It strives to offer readers the most comprehensive information, including relevant human geography knowledge to understand before departure, as well as detailed travel tips on clothing, food, accommodation, and transportation. Additionally, it features numerous recommendations and special reminders from "local insiders." The ultimate purpose of travel is not just to "arrive," but to broaden one's horizons and understand the world and everything that exists alongside us. Therefore, "Travel China" includes an extra "Interpretation" section, explaining the local geography, history, and culture to readers as a pre-trip preparation. Without reading some Tang and Song Dynasty poetry, it's hard to appreciate the beauty of Jiangnan's landscapes; without some ethnological knowledge, one might fall into the curiosity of Western ethnic minorities; and without a deep understanding of Chinese history, how can one appreciate the myriad ancient architectural wonders? Of course, the editorial of "Travel China" remains to provide readers with the most effective travel guide with an objective attitude and detailed information.
In Dream of the Red Chamber, there are two lines: "A land of flowers and willows, a paradise of tenderness and wealth," which perfectly describe Zhejiang. This southeastern coastal province is the "red dust" that the stubborn stone in Dream of the Red Chamber yearned for, full of joy and benefits. With grass growing and orioles singing, flowers dazzling the eyes, it is one of the best places in the red dust. Its beautiful nature makes everything pleasing to the eye, and its mature civilization makes everything refined and elegant. Li Yu, a native of Lanxi in Zhejiang, once wrote Notes on Leisure, and the word "leisure" perfectly captures the ease and pleasure of traveling in Zhejiang. Zhejiang belongs to those who have both the time and the inclination to travel. If you are both physically and mentally at ease and have half a book of Tang poetry and half a book of Song poetry in your mind, your trip to Zhejiang will be full of interest.
Legend has it that about a thousand years ago, the Jurchen ruler Hailing Wang, who lived in the northeastern Changbai Mountains and the Heilongjiang River Basin, was moved by the beautiful description of Hangzhou in poetry and "was inspired to cross the river with a single throw of his spear." Bai Juyi once wrote, "Unable to leave Hangzhou behind, half of my reluctance is due to this lake." Hangzhou represents the entire province of Zhejiang—it "s" people in with its charm and "s" them back with its allure. This just shows the charm of Zhejiang, this gentle world.
Where is there no flower? Where is there no willow? What is there to praise about prosperity and wealth? Only the word "tenderness" is truly precious to Zhejiang. The rain of apricot blossoms that almost wet your clothes, the breeze of willow leaves that doesn't feel cold, mountains like green jade, and waters like emerald hairpins—all are gentle, soft, and calm. In Zhejiang, there are no stark contrasts in color; only the "emerald green paired with peach red" that Eileen Chang spoke of. Everything is gentle yet "disjointed" in contrast: green waters winding around green mountains, white walls complementing black tiles, willows and peaches side by side, three autumns of osmanthus, ten miles of lotus flowers. Though it may be criticized as overly feminine, isn't Confucian's ideal of character "gentle and kind"?
There is a line that has been overused, but to describe Zhejiang, it still cannot be avoided: "to live poetically on earth." The poetry of Zhejiang is classical Chinese poetry, permeating every corner of the province. From the northern Zhejiang where "white egrets fly before the Xishe Mountain, peach blossoms flow with fat perch fish" to the central Zhejiang where "three days of peach blossom rain in Lanxi, half a night of carp come up the shoals," to the southern Zhejiang where "ponds sprout spring grass, garden willows change their chirping birds," and from the western Zhejiang where "the wilderness is vast, the sky low, trees few, the river clear, the moon near people" to the eastern Zhejiang where "Tianmu Mountain stretches to the sky, its momentum surpassing the Five Great Mountains and covering Chicheng," Zhejiang is the epitome of classical poetry. Traveling to Zhejiang allows you to absorb the earth and rain of the classical era. When Xie Lingyun was the governor of Yongjia and Su Dongpo was the governor of Hangzhou, they could be considered "living poetically." And the echoes of their legacy, across generations and millennia, still resonate in the mountains and seas of Zhejiang.
In Zhejiang, most attractions are intersections of natural beauty and historical culture, rarely featuring purely natural landscapes or purely cultural sites. Zhejiang is undoubtedly an ancient civilization. The Longhuqiao Neolithic site in Xiaoshan, one of the top ten archaeological discoveries in China in 2001, pushes Zhejiang's history back 8,000 years. Strangely enough, despite having numerous cultural relics and historical sites, Zhejiang has seen major archaeological discoveries in recent years. In 2004,