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Shaoxing
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Located south of Hangzhou Bay in the midst of a flat plain crisscrossed by waterways and surrounded by low hills,
SHAOXING
is one of the oldest cities in Zhejiang, having established itself as a regional centre in the fifth century BC. During the intervening centuries - especially under the Song, when the imperial court was based in neighbouring Hangzhou - Shaoxing remained a flourishing city, though the lack of direct access to the sea has always kept it out of the front line of events.
For the visitor, Shaoxing is a quieter and more intimate version of Suzhou, combining some attractive little sights with great opportunities for boating round classic Chinese countryside. It's a small city that seems to have played a disproportionately large role in Chinese legend and culture - some of China's more colourful characters came from here, including the mythical tamer of floods Yu the Great, the wife-murdering Ming painter Xin Wei, the female revolutionary hero Qiu Jin, and the great twentieth-century writer Lu Xun, all of whom have left their mark on the city.
Shaoxing lies near
Jian Hu
, whose water's unusual clarity have made the city known throughout China for its alcohol. Most famous are the city's sweet yellow
rice wine
, a favourite of so many Chinese recipe books worldwide, and its ruby-coloured
nu'er hong wine
, traditionally the wine brides sipped to toast their new husbands, bought when the daughter was born and buried in the backyard to age. Although sometimes recommended as a day trip from Hangzhou, a single day is definitely not enough to do justice to the town and its surroundings. And, if any added incentive is needed, hotel accommodation in Shaoxing is cheap. Other useful information
for tourists (each section contains more specific sub-sections): |
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China,
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