Best Things to Do in Hangzhou
Because this city is more than just the West Lake
As they face unprecedented growth, cities in China face a constant dilemma between keeping up with the country’s astonishing pace of economic development and not sacrificing their heritage in the process. One of the cities that has been economically competitive while impressively maintaining their characters is the city of Hangzhou 杭州.
Hangzhou was the capital of the Southern Song Dynasty, during which Chinese culture was at its height in the 3000 years of Chinese recorded history.
In the book that recorded his journey across China between 1271–1295, Marco Polo reported that Hangzhou had a population of 1.5 million people, 15 times more than his native Venice and ten marketplaces, each half a mile long, where 40–50,000 people would go shopping on any given day, and 10,000 bridges.
Granted, Polo has a penchant for drama and exaggeration (a later traveller could only find 347 bridges vs 10,000 bridges he claimed), but he was undoubtedly wild with wonders during his journey across China.
Here, he discovered coal used to heat the Chinese bathhouses. At that same time, coal was not even yet a thing back in Europe. During the 12 years he spent in China, MP even served in the Kublai Khan’s court.
Marco Polo described the total value of trade that sailed through the inter-aqua network from Beijing to Hangzhou, to exceed the total value made in the Christian rivers plus their seas.
To this day, Hangzhou has prospered. So while most emperors, travellers and commoners have been flocking to this city for centuries to see the West Lake, there have been more things ‘brewing’ in this capital of Zhejiang province — the wealthiest province in all of China, also home of China’s tech-giant Alibaba. So if you want to understand Hangzhou, don’t miss these places.
Hangzhou National Tea Museum
中国茶叶博物馆 Zhong Guo Cha Ye Bo Wu Guan
This free-to-enter museum is simply the epicentre of knowledge and appreciation for China’s favourite beverage. With 5 halls laying out the long history stretching through multiple centuries and cultures, this museum captures the tea’s historical development.
Here, you can literally see where your tea comes from. The museum building is surrounded by magnificent tea plantations, where some of the best Longjing 龙井 tea from this area is produced. Many tea producing villages can be found in this area where you can hop into one of the locally owned tea houses.
Tips on how to best enjoy your Longjing tea:
Buy tea directly from the farmers at Meijiawu Village 梅家坞村 in Meiling Lu 梅岭路 or Dragon Well Tea Village 龙井问茶 in 龙井路 Longjing Lu. Elsewhere, tea prices are marked up drastically.
On top of sharing knowledge of tea production and consumption, the local farmers also offer meals at their homes. This hotel 杭州龙井茂居酒店 was recommended by a friend.
Here in these villages are some of Hangzhou’s most beautiful and hilly roads, which are favourites among the local bike crowd. The Buddhist temple called Yun Xi Temple 云栖寺 and Bamboo forest Yun Xi Bamboo Path 云栖竹径 is some of the sites you can take in after a tea break.
Drool at architectural regionalism ‘porn’ at China Academy of Art, Xiang Shan campus
Located in the eastern outskirts of Hangzhou, this campus is blessed in what is perhaps the most architecture in the whole of China. The campus is designed by its Dean of the Architectural Arts, Wang Shu who is also the first Chinese to win the Pritzker Architectural Award (the Nobel equivalent for architecture).
Wang Shu’s works provide a breath of fresh air in the midst of the construction race in China. Against the prevailing widespread urbanization and homogenous globalization in China nowadays, Wang emphasizes the importance of regional resources and traditional craftsmanship.
His understanding of Chinese architecture couldn’t have been better demonstrated by the materiality and techniques used in the building scattered throughout the campus: the building’s foundations are built using a local method traditionally used in the local tea field construction, a symbolic gesture representing the rooting of the school in the surroundings; the walls are built out of a collection of recycled old bricks and roof tiles of 20 different dimensions; the painted steel frame handrails are infilled with timber strips; and roofs are made out of a large collection of over two million pieces of tiles of different ages and sizes, salvaged from the traditional houses demolished all over the province of Zhejiang.
In short, this campus is like Wang’s love letter to Chinese vernacular, regionalism architecture. Seeing projects like this where architectural idealism is made into reality, always makes my heart skip a beat. While you are on the campus ground, you can also visit the Museum of Chinese Folk Art by Kengo Kuma and the Museum of Chinese International Design by Alvaro Siza.
Pay a visit to this church at He Fang Jie 河坊街
While this ancient-looking street (it has actually been extensively refurbished) drives tourists and locals to spend hours snacking, browsing, and visiting the nearby Traditional Chinese Medicine Museum, it is the conspicuous angled concrete structure that provoked my curiosity. As I dawdled inside, I discovered a beautiful church bathed in sepia light from the yellow-tinted window shaped in a cross behind the altar. Needless to say, one of my architectural highlights of the trip.
West Lake 西湖 Xi Hu
This lake needs no introduction. The stunning West Lake, along with its islands, temples, pavilions, arched bridges and the 1,000-year-old, five-storey Leifeng Pagoda had invited poets and artists to visit and celebrate the city of Hangzhou since the ninth century.
There are even accounts of the Qing imperial obsession with West Lake, in particular, the emperors Kangxi 康熙, Yongzheng 雍正 and Qianlong 乾隆 who had scenes from West Lake (which they had themselves helped create) replicated in their northern gardens.
To best enjoy the lake, walk around the lake on the willow-lined path, or rent one of the boats to explore its water. On your walk, you may even pass elderly men spending their days sitting side-by-side behind their telephoto cameras and tripods, trying to capture the wild birds of West Lake. In the early mornings, you can watch people stroking water calligraphy on these paths, doing taichi or practising all sorts of dances (Xinjiang, square dancing and even ballroom). It is little wonder that Hangzhou is ranked the second most livable city in China, after Xiamen.
Impression Show
Watch the Impressions show of Chinese G20 gala at the West Lake. Like other Impressions shows directed by Zhang Yimo, this show takes advantage of the natural backdrop of the surroundings. Performers decked in colourful costumes dance on a stage just underneath the water surface, giving the audience the impression that they’re dancing on water.
Aside from Impressions, there is also The West Lake musical fountain performance which is free and takes place every night at 7 and 8 pm.
The Romance of Song Dynasty, Songcheng Park
The first time I went to Hangzhou was in winter hence it was too cold for any outdoor performance like the West Lake Impressions. So I watched the Romance of Song Dynasty show at the Songcheng Theme Park instead. While Songcheng itself is a cultural theme park with a remake of Chinese towns with galleries of cultural nuances (like various torture methods of ancient China and an ancient condom made out of lamb intestine — provocative content is memorable indeed), it does feel a little artificial.
The show’s production, however, was ultimately impressive — boasting magnificent dancers and actors, brilliantly colourful costumes, blinding laser lights, complete with unprecedented stage props (such as a flying imperial carriage!).
The two main players in the realm of large scale Chinese cultural live performances are the Impressions and the Songcheng Performance Development Co. While they perform in different cities, sometimes they overlap in great cultural cities like Hangzhou and Xi An. Both production houses draw in from the city’s history and culture to be tailored to the production theme, making the shows a unique destination for cultural aficionados and the general public alike.
However, the similarities stop there. Though equally impressive, the two are very distinct: the Impressions show are almost always performed outdoors with a backdrop of the natural surroundings; while the Romance series by Songcheng is often performed indoors. What it lacks in the natural backdrop, Songcheng makes up with crazy technological stage props (like flying imperial carriage mentioned above and indoor waterfall).
In subjective eyes, some shows are more impressive than others. I remembered how mesmerized I was by the Impressions show in Yangshuo and the Romance of Song Dynasty, and how underwhelming the Impressions G20 in this city — but this is could be because, by the time I watched G20, I had gotten used to the grandeur Chinese live shows. The ticket price for both shows starts at ¥300.
On top of its importance during imperial China, West Lake also became a prominent backdrop to the political enterprise of the new People’s Republic of China. From 1953, its lakeshore villas, hotels and offices were used by party leaders as the location for both recreation and the making of key political developments in the socialist politics of New China.
The creation of gardens 修園 xiu yuan, or being ‘sequestered in a garden’ 園居 yuan ju, have been favoured by the powerful and wealthy for centuries. This indulgence has been a source of frequent tension for Chinese rulers who have to balance their paradisiacal retreats and the frugality expected of them.
As Mao ‘enjoyed the mountains and waters’ 游山玩水 you shan wan shui, he shared concerns expressed by the late-imperial rulers Kangxi and Qianlong during their garden residencies or Tours of the South 南巡: that relaxation and the pursuit of literary interests were but peripheral to matters of the empire. West Lake was therefore defined as a place of dedicated political work that was far from the quotidian distractions of the capital in the north. Hence, the exclusive gardens-residences of senior Communist party figures were carefully hidden from public view, on the grounds of ‘state security’. One of such is:
704 Lin Biao’s Bunker 行宫 Xing Gong
One of such luxurious semi-permanent residences was 704, a former residence of Lin Biao, Mao’s handpicked successor who fell victim to a fatal plane crash along with his entire family after attempting to stage a coup. 704 is his former temporary residence which includes an underground bunker. It has now been turned into a museum, located on the grounds of the Zhejiang Hotel.
Hike the Bagua Field
八卦田 Ba Gua Tian
Hangzhou’s Song dynasty emperor was so into agriculture that he built an octagon-shaped farm fashioned after the ancient Book of Changes symbol. It later fell into disrepair but was restored in 2007. Climb (or drive) up Jade Emperor Hill 玉皇山 yu huang shan, for a bird’s eye view, or visit the field to get first-hand knowledge of traditional farming methods.
Baoshi Hill 宝石山 Bao Shi Shan
Close by and yet often overlooked, Baoshi Hill is worth exploring. A maze of well-paved paths will take you past a Taoist nunnery, the Baoshu pagoda, pilgrimage sites, West Lake vistas, and small inexpensive teahouses tucked away in the hillside.
How to get here:
Enter at Xixialing Lu across the street from West Lake, between Yue Fei’s tomb (Beishan Lu 80) and KFCInstruction in Chinese for your taxi driver:
从北山路80岳王庙和肯德基中间的栖霞岭路进去
Another thing one must do in Hangzhou is to eat. Zhejiang cuisine is one of the Eight Culinary Traditions of Chinese cuisine. In general, Zhejiang cuisine is not greasy but has a fresh and soft flavour with a mellow fragrance.
Eat Braised Pork Belly 东坡肉 Dong Po Rou
This braised pork is an iconic feature of Hangzhou cuisine. Because this is China, even pork belly has its own history. This dish can be attributed to Su Shi 苏轼 a.k.a Su Dong Po 苏东坡, a scholar and court official during the Song Dynasty, renowned today for his brilliance in poetry, calligraphy, and writings in Chinese literary history (how can one person excel in so many things?)
There was a time when Su Dongpo was demoted for criticizing the emperor and sent to Huangzhou 黄州 in exile. One day during this exile, he was so engrossed in a game of Chinese chess 象棋 with an old friend that he forgot all about the Red-Cooked Pork Belly 红烧肉 braising on his stove. As soon as he caught a whiff of the fragrant braising aroma from the kitchen, he rushed there, took a bite of the dish he thought had ruined and was pleasantly surprised to find that the meat was even more tender and tastier.
When he was later stationed in Hangzhou and was overseeing a reconstruction project on the West Lake, he cooked the same dish with the pork cut up into cubes and distributed them to the workers as a sign of gratitude. Lo and behold, they all thoroughly enjoyed this cooking of his. From thereon, Dongpo Pork rapidly gained and has become a notable signature dish of the city to present-day Hang Zhou.
Try Yangmei fruit 杨梅
Primarily grown here in Zhejiang, this fruit has been a God-send for centuries in the harsh humidity and the relentless sunshine during the summer of Eastern China. Traditionally used in traditional Chinese remedies for more than 2,000 years, it apparently holds high medicinal value. Various studies have shown that yangmei provides a rich source of antioxidants such as vitamin C, and may be useful for tackling inflammation, diarrhea, intestinal ailments, cancer and even diabetes.
Some describe this summer indulgence as ambrosial (worthy of the Gods): “a mouthwatering, sweet-tart mix of pomegranate, strawberry and cranberry flavours, packed together into a cherry-sized sphere with a curiously bumpy surface and, when fully ripe, the deep burgundy colour of fine red wine. It’s a little piece of ecstasy that will dance across your taste buds and probably dribble onto the table or your summer clothes.”
For my uncultured, ignorant tastebud, yangmei is too sour. However, I made some ice cubes out of the roughly chopped up fruit and it tasted glorious with any fruit tea, served chilled.
This post is part of the Life in China series.1. China Survival Guide
Apps and tips that will make your Chinese experience a whole lot better.2. What the Song Dynasty Has Given the World
How a Chinese Golden Age from a millennium ago shaped modern warfare and globalisation3. China Through Films
Cinematic trips into the voyage of the breathtaking world of traditional and contemporary China, and whatever lies in between.
I hope these will help you begin to understand this mind-boggling country
