Gavin Van Hinsbergh
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My Stories
Wuzhen (East) Water Town, near Hangzhou
Wuzhen is one of China’s quaint and atmospheric “water towns” in the Shanghai Delta area. I went there with my wife in 2009 as part of our tour of Hangzhou and Huangshan (the Yellow Mountains). Wuzhen is split into two parts: the east part is set up for tourist day tours; the west part is like a themed holiday resort, with guest houses, hotels and restaurants in traditional wooden buildings. Here I will cover the east part. The east part of Wuzhen, known as Dongzha (东栅/d...Read More
Tunxi Old Town, Huangshan City, Anhui Province
Our tour of Huangshan finished with a visit to the old town of Tunxi, after we had descended the Yellow Mountains and visited picturesque and striking Hong Village. Tunxi, the old town in the centre of Huangshan City, is famous for ink production. We got a guided tour of a historic factory where ink tablets and seals are still produced by hand. There was a chance to buy factory products at the end, like ink trays, chops, stamps, and seals. We didn't. ...Read More
Hong Village (Hong Cun), Huangshan, Anhui Province
After descending Huangshan, the Yellow Mountains, my wife and I were met by our tour guide and we went to Hong Cun (宏村 /hong tswnn/). Hong Cun, literally Spacious Village, is famous for being the set for Jiang Yimou’s Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. It is a beautiful ancient village frequented by painters capturing the blend of water, willows and ancient architecture on canvass. Walking through the narrow streets one can visit many historic residences with antique furniture and beautifull...Read More
The Yellow Mountains (Huangshan)
Yellow Mountain Scenic Area (Huangshan) Day 1 On 25 August 2009 my wife and I took a coach direct from Hangzhou to Yellow Mountain Scenic Area, which took 3+ hours. The highway was high quality, and I noticed once again the prosperity of even the rural areas of Zhejiang Province. Anhui, the next province containing Huangshan (黄山/hwung-shan/ name of a city, it’s prefecture, and a renowned mountainous area), is comparatively poor. However, Huangshan still has the largest entry fee...Read More
Six Harmonies Pagoda, Hangzhou
On our Tour of Hangzhou in 2009, my wife and I climbed to the top storey of Six Harmonies Pagoda. It was a good end to a packed day of sight seeing, in which we saw West Lake, Lingyin Temple and the Peak Flown In From Afar. Pagodas are a particularly Chinese architecture that started springing up after the spread of Buddhism to China some 1,700 years ago. They all have round, bamboo-like tiles on the roofs of each floor, and horns on the corners of the roofs. Do they all have eight ...Read More