【Nov-Dec】Hangzhou：Wuzhen Water Town & West Lake

Once praised as the most beautiful city on Earth by the Italian explorer Marco Polo, Hangzhou has long been ranked as a popular tourist destination. West Lake, Lingyin Temple, Leifeng Pagoda，Longjing Tea Plantation... Spending time in nearby Wuzhen will leave you with an unforgettable memory as well.

ITINERARY

Arrival in Hangzhou

 Lingyin Temple · Longjing Tea Plantation

Wuzhen Water Town

West Lake & Leifeng Pagoda

BASIC CONTENT

-How to become VIP of FCN-

1.FCN Private English&Chinese-speaking guide

2.History explained by a local professional English-speaking guide

3.Entrance tickets

a、West Lake-Free

b、Leifeng Pagoda in West Lake

c、Three Pools Mirroring the Moon in West Lake

d、Peak Flown From Afar

e、Lingyin Temple

f、Wuzhen Water Town(Dongzha)

g、Longjing Tea Plantation

4.Accommodation as listed in the itinerary (4-star standard),Single supplement is CNY1000(Jan 19-21)/CNY1500(Feb 12-14) if needed

5.Local transportation as detailed on your itinerary

6.All meals as listed:

- Day1:Hotel Breakfast、dinner

- Day2:Hotel Breakfast

- Day3:Hotel Breakfast

7.Accident insurance

* This price is for reference only, the specific ticket price is subject to the actual on-site

Averages for Hangzhou Weather

Why Visit Wuzhen, Zhejiang, China?

Located in the north of Tongxiang City, Jiaxing City, Zhejiang Province, 86 km from Hangzhou (the capital of this region), Wuzhen, or Wuzhen Water Town is one of the top six ancient towns in South China. It has been praised as a land of abundance since the ancient time. The town was established over 1,300 years ago, it's a typical water town of Jiangna Style (Jiangnan: the region south of the lower reaches of the Yangtze River). Wuzhen fully preserves the water town's style and pattern in the late Qing Dynasty and the Republican period. Little rivers, houses on the two banks, little bridges connecting streets, stone paved alleys, all these compose the most typical Jiangnan stle water town.

Wuzhen Dongzha (East Area)

Dongzha (东栅), covering an area of 0.9 square kilometers, is located to the east of Shi River, hence the name Dongzha (East Area). It was opened to the public as a scenic spot in 2001. There are six bridges across the river, and the wooden architectures in the north bank compose the main scenery, while the south bank only has several architectures. Dongzha is the firstly developed scenic zone. Yet, there are still many local people living here, and most of them change their houses into home inns or restaurants. To explore Dongzha is to enjoy all kinds of traditional folk customs. The Famous Dongzha attractions and performances include:

Ancient Bed Museum

It is China's first museum devoted to the collection and display of antique beds. You will find exquisite examples of the original style, with the oldest dating back to the Ming Dynasty (1368~1662).

Folk Customs Museum

This museum displays Wuzhen's customs about birthday, wedding, childbirth and seasonal change as they existed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Wine Distillery Workshop

It is a distillery to display wine-brewing culture in Wuzhen. In Ming Dynasty, it produced Sanbai Wine, a famous alcoholic drink that pleases the palate with its soft and lasting mellowness.

Indigo Fabric Workshop

It was firstly founded in Wuzhen during the 13th century. You can have a look at the production base and distribution center of indigo cloth.

Shadow Play Theater

This old, traditional style Shadow Puppetry is a form of entertainment created by projecting the shadow of cattle, sheep or other characters hidden onto a screen. Here in Shadow Play Theater in Wuzhen, you can enjoy Chinese classics performed by the local artists. Show time: 8:30-11:20 am; 1:00-4:30 pm.

Huagu Opera

Huaguo Opera is also called flower drum opera. Travelers can enjoy a variety of local dramas that depict rural life through simple stories, fluid performance and lively music. Show time: 9:00 am ~ 4:30 pm (every 30 minutes).

Martial Arts Performance

The origin of the boxing boat dates back to the Southern Song Dynasty over 700 years ago. This method of exercising was very popular at that time. Local people exercised the Chinese martial on boats to guard Wuzhen as well as keep health. Show time: 08:30~08:40, 09:30~09:40, 10:30~10:40, 11:10~11:20, 13:30~13:40, 14:30~14:40, 15:30~15:40 and 16:10~16:20. It will be cancelled during rainy days.

Best Time to Visit Dongzha: Morning is the most beautiful time of Dongzha. In the morning, the whole river will be surrounded in a thin mist, local people burn the honeycomb briquette for the day, and everything is just like scenery from the tranquil and poetic Chinese painting. A living ancient town will be awaken in front you.

Original Local Life in the Southern Part

Recommended Visiting Time: 0.5 ~ 1 hour

The southern part of Wuzhen is not a scenic zone but the local living quarter. There are full of all kinds little shops (mainly opened for the local people) and you can experience the original old street life here. Though it looks smaller and clutter when it is compared with the east and west zones, the southern part is still a good place to see the original face of Wuzhen and to experience the civil life.

What is the the Longjing Tea Plantation?

The Longjing Tea Plantation is a famous Dragon Well tea plantation found in the leafy hills in the West Lake scenic area of Hangzhou, China. The area is renowned as being one of the most important production bases of West Lake Dragon Well tea in China.

Longjing Tea, also known as dragon well tea, is a type of green tea that has been in production for over 1200 years! It is a very famous tea throughout China and is well regarded for the bright coloured leaves, strong smell, sweet flavour and attractive appearance.

Longjing Village is found to the west side of the famous West Lake and it is the origin of Longjing Tea. The village is nestled into the hillside and is surrounded by picturesque mountains. The plantation itself stretches to over 800 acres.

Visiting the Longjing Tea Plantation allows you not only to learn about the interesting processes of tea production, but also to admire the stunning scenery- don’t forget to pack your camera.

You will find Lingyin Temple (Temple of Soul's Retreat) in a long, narrow valley between Peak Flown From Afar (Fei Lai Feng) and North Peak to the northwest of the West Lake at Hangzhou in Zhejiang Province. It is without doubt a premier showpiece in the West Lake environs and is notable also as one of the ten most famous Buddhist temples of China. In 1961 it was listed for protection as a key provincial historical and cultural site and is considered a leading centre for research relative to Chinese Buddhist culture.

The presence of a temple on this site can be traced back to the Eastern Jin Dynasty (317 - 420AD). According to local legend, Huili, an Indian monk came to the area  where he was inspired by the spiritual nature of the scenery to be found here. To his mind this had to be a dwelling of the Immortals and so he gave the temple a name Temple of the Soul's Retreat. The Chinese name is translated into English as either 'Temple of the Soul's Retreat' or 'Temple of Inspired Seclusion' for the setting has a quiet and beautiful grandeur that encourages a feeling of peace and for contemplation.

The Lingyin Temple was to gain in importance during the Five Dynasties (907-960 AD) when the King of the Wu Yue State initiated a large-scale development of the temple as a sign of his devotion to Buddha. In its heyday, Lingyin Temple comprised nine buildings, eighteen pavilions, seventy-seven palaces and halls with over thirteen hundred rooms providing accommodation for around three thousand monks. A monastery on this scale is difficult to imagine and needless to say over the centuries it has been subjected to many changes of fortune due to wars, religious repression and other calamities. The main building that can be seen today is a result of the restoration that was carried out in 1974 following the ten-year Chinese Cultural Revolution.

Upon entering the first hall of Lingyin Temple, you will see a tablet inscribed with words penned by Emperor Kangxi of the Qing Dynasty (1644 - 1911). He was inspired by the sight of the temple shrouded in mist amongst the trees that surround it and gave it the title 'Cloud Forest Buddhist Temple'. This first great hall, with its double eaves and some sixty feet in height, is the 'Hall of the Heavenly Kings.' Upon the door is a couplet that says 'Let us sit and wait upon the threshold, where we shall see another peak flying from afar. Let us welcome spring with a smile as the snow melts and the brook starts to flow once more.'

Upon entering the Hall your eyes will be drawn to the delicately painted ceiling decorated with phoenixes and dragons. Images of the Four Heavenly Kings stand upon either side of the Maitreya, a laughing Buddha with a huge belly who is said to be able to 'endure all intolerance and laugh at every laughable person in the world,' as he welcomes those who enter the hall. On passing through this hall and crossing the courtyard beyond, you then enter the Da Xiong Bao Dian. This is the Hall of the Great Hero. It is seven rooms wide, five rooms deep and single storey construction. The double eaved roof soars to a pinnacle of 33.6 metres (110 feet) making it probably the highest single storey buildings to be found in China. The hall houses a statue of Sakyamuni carved from 24 sections of camphor wood with an overall height of 24.8 metres (82 feet). This is one of the largest wooden statues in China and is covered with gold leaf. The statue is flanked on either side by twenty saints. These are said to be protectors of justice. Twelve disciples who serve as guards are seated along the rear wall. The figures are a very imposing and impressionable sight to behold.

Continuing through the complex, you will come in turn to the Pharmaceutical Master Hall, Great Mercy Hall and the Cool Spring Pavilion. This latter pavilion was erected a thousand years ago during the Tang Dynasty. It is very pleasant place to linger during the heat of summer when the softly murmuring spring has a cooling effect upon its surroundings.
 

The Lingyin Temple contains an important collection of Buddhist literature together with many other treasures. As a consequence it is a great centre of information for those who wish to study aspects of Chinese Buddhism in detail. The palaces, pavilions and halls together with their many figures of Buddhist deities represent in total a splendid and unique collection of architectural and artistic cultural relics. The various buildings and pagodas date from the Southern Song, Ming and Tang Dynasties. Among the ancient writings are scriptures written on pattra leaves, the Diamond Sutra copied by Dong Qichang in the Ming Dynasty and a wood cut edition published during the Qing Dynasty.

'Sunny water waves its glow,
Misty rain tricks the hill.
Plainly or gaily decked out like Xi Zi,
West Lake is always alluring.'

These are the words composed by the famous Song Dynasty poet Su Dongpo (960-1127). In this poem, he compared the West Lake to Xi Zi, one of the four beauties in ancient China. These poetic sentiments depict the charm of the lake which has always been a beautiful and romantic spot since ancient times. 

Measuring 3.2 kilometers (2 miles) in length, 2.8 kilometers (1.7 miles) in width, and 2.3 meters (7.5 feet) in average depth, the lake spreads itself in an area totaling 6.5 square kilometers (2.5 square miles). Embraced by mountains on three sides, the West Lake knits itself into the North Inner Lake, the Yuehu Lake, the West Inner Lake, the South Lake and the West Outer Lake by the fabric of the Bai Causeway, the Su Causeway and the Yang Causeway. Between the North Inner Lake and the West Outer Lake lies the largest natural island called the Solitary Hill. In addition, three man-made islands stand in the West Outer Lake: the Lesser Paradise Island, the Mid-lake Pavilion, and the Ruangong Islet; and two famous pagodas by the lake: the Leifeng Pagoda to the south and the Baochu Pagoda to the north.  Nowadays, West Lake is one of the top ten scenic areas in China, getting listed as a World Cultural Heritage Site by UNESCO in 2011. It is famous for the romantic legends and intoxicating scenery.
 

Legend of West Lake

Of all the legends, the most touching one is the love story between Bai Suzhen and Xu Xi'an. Bai Suzhen was a white snake spirit and Xu Xi'an was a mortal man. They fell in love with each other when they first met on a boat on the West Lake, and got married very soon. But the evil monk Fa Hai attempted to separate the couple by imprisoning Xu Xi'an. Bai Suzhen fought against Fa Hai and tried her best to rescue his husband. But she failed and was imprisoned under the Leifeng Pagoda by the lake. Years later the couple was rescued by Xiao Qing, the sister of Baisuzhen. From then on, Bai Suzhen and Xu Xi'an lived together happily. Because of the moving story, the lake becomes an ideal place for dating.

👇 For One-day Tour

👇 For Long-term activities for two days or more

Please let us know immediately if your plans change!

Due to the particularity of some tourist resources which need to be booked in advance and cause actual losses, the specific losses include but are not limited to train tickets, air tickets, hotels, etc. If tourists need to cancel their orders, they should contact FCN in time to assist tourists in reducing losses and refund other losses that have not actually occurred in accordance with the principle of refund. 

In the rare event that FCN cancels a trip, or we are unable to serve you, all fees are immediately refunded, including the deposit.