Insights
- Exploring Hu Xueyan’s Residence and Its Hidden PassagesIn the lanes south of West Lake, Hangzhou preserves a remarkable chapter of late Qing history in the former home of Hu Xueyan. Built for one of the city’s most…
- How to dress for Hangzhou's four seasons: a smart packing guideHangzhou sits in a humid subtropical zone, with four distinct seasons that can swing from a misty 4°C winter morning along the Su Causeway to a sweltering 36°C…
- Birdwatching around Hangzhou’s Xixi WetlandFor travellers from Australia, Hangzhou offers an unusual birdwatching setting: a large wetland woven into a modern city. Xixi National Wetland Park lies west…
- How to Take the Ferry Across West Lake and Choose Your StopWest Lake is large enough to make walking between its scenic shores tiring, especially in Hangzhou’s humid summer weather. A sightseeing ferry offers an easy…
- The Hangzhou China Arts and Crafts Museum: A Visitor's Complete GuideTucked into the historic fabric of Hangzhou near the southern edge of the city, the Hangzhou China Arts and Crafts Museum offers a window into centuries of…
- Quiet Hangzhou gardens far from the main tourist trailsHangzhou has earned its reputation through West Lake, and rightly so. The willow-edged shores, the stone bridges, the boats drifting past Leifeng Pagoda at…
- Finding Authentic Longjing Tea Directly from Hangzhou's FarmersLongjing, often called Dragon Well tea, carries a reputation that has stretched well beyond Zhejiang Province. Tea drinkers in Sydney, Melbourne, and Brisbane…
- The History and Architecture of the Lingyin Temple GrottoesNestled at the foot of Feilai Feng (Flying Arrival Peak) just outside Hangzhou, the Lingyin Temple Grottoes form one of China's most spiritually charged…
- A practical guide to using Hangzhou's public bicycle systemHangzhou's bicycle-sharing network is one of the largest of its kind in the world, with bright clusters of bikes on suburban corners, train stations, metro…
- How to eat your way through Hefang Street night marketHefang Street, known in Chinese as Qinghefang Old Street, winds through the southern edge of Hangzhou's historic centre just a short walk from West Lake. By…