Journey to Jiangnan Water Town in East China

"The water is beautiful and the mountains are long, so come to the small pavilion window. If you don't understand the spring breeze of Jiangnan rain, you can look at the rain alley with a smile for guests to taste." Whenever I read these words describing the Jiangnan water towns, my heart is pounding. The body has not moved, but the mind is far away. The beauty of Jiangnan fascinates me. I took the opportunity of this summer vacation to travel to East China, feel the charm of Jiangnan water towns, wander in the paintings, and be a Jiangnan woman. Pack your luggage, alone, a backpack, and a mobile phone, and set off. My name is in Beiqing Daily. The staff there are very friendly and considerate. They printed lots of notes on several pieces of paper and gave me a travel gift bag. At least I felt comfortable before the trip. On the first day, July 10, 2015, the train departed from Shijiazhuang Station at 8:07 a.m. and arrived in Nanjing at 11:30 a.m. I met a tall and beautiful male tour guide in Nanjing, his name was Xie Jun. After lunch, Xie took a group of 15 of us to the top attractions in East China - Nanjing Confucius Temple Commercial Street and Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum. Confucius Temple is a temple dedicated to Confucius, a famous thinker and educator in ancient China. Surrounding the temple is the bustling Confucius Temple Commercial Street, with supermarkets, hotels, specialty snacks, specialty crafts, and brand stores, making it overwhelming. After visiting the Confucius Temple, we visited the Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum, which is the tomb of Sun Yat-sen, the great revolutionary forerunner of modern China. It faces north and faces south. Construction started in the spring of 1926 and was completed in the summer of 1929, covering an area of ??more than 80,000 square meters. The main buildings include archway, tomb passage, tomb gate, stele pavilion, memorial hall, tomb chamber, etc. 32 steps, the last step is getting higher and higher, which means the revolution is getting harder and harder. Listening to the tour guide’s introduction, the majestic Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum has been full of hardships from its completion to its standing today! The next day, July 11, we departed from Nanjing at 6:20 in the morning and arrived in Wuxi at 8:30. First, we visited Lingshan Scenic Area, which is a national 5A-level scenic spot and a famous Buddhist cultural tourism destination. In the scenic area, there are the 88-meter-high Lingshan Giant Buddha, the large-scale dynamic group sculpture "Nine Dragons Bathing", Lingshan Gong Fan, the venue of the World Buddhist Forum, Wuyin Tancheng, and the performance of "Auspicious Odes of the Brahma Palace", etc. They are all attractions. The Buddha's right hand points to the sky and his left hand points to the earth. This is the Buddha who removes suffering for all sentient beings and blesses them with peace and happiness! The Giant Buddha faces Taihu Lake in front, with Qinglong Mountain on the left, Baihu Mountain on the right, and Lingshan Mountain on the back. It is in an excellent position and is the tallest open-air bronze statue of Sakyamuni in the world. Suddenly I thought of five Buddhas with five faces, standing majestically, echoing each other from a distance, illuminating all living beings. Lingshan Palace left a deep impression on me. It is located on the shores of the vast Taihu Lake and at the foot of Zhongling and Liuxiuling Mountains. Its magnificent architecture stands next to the solemn Lingshan Buddha, and its magnificent art complements the unique and extensive Buddhist culture. Its architecture is magnificent, its layout is solemn and harmonious, and there are large-scale performances of "Auspicious Ode to Lingshan" every day. Its main purpose is to promote traditional culture and enlighten spiritual wisdom. Its magnificent scenes are dreamlike and lifelike. Taihu Lake in Wuxi is rich in pearls. In the pearl showroom in Wuxi, I chose two pearl earrings, one for myself and one for my best friend. In the afternoon we drove from Wuxi to Suzhou, which took about an hour and a half. When we arrived at our destination, we first visited Mudu Ancient Town. The real scene of "small bridges and flowing water with people's houses" is displayed in front of us, allowing us to feast our eyes on it. Sitting on the small boat in the south of the Yangtze River that "rocked and rocked, rocked and rocked to the bridge of the mother-in-law's house", listening to the Jiangnan tunes sung by Sister-in-law Qiao from Jiangnan, it was very pleasant! Later, under the guidance of Director Xie, we visited Xu Shiyuan Courtyard and Yan Courtyard in Mudu Ancient Town. After dinner, we visited the night view of the Grand Canal in the ancient town of Suzhou, took a cruise, watched the bridges, and listened to Pingtan. It was as beautiful as a dream, and we learned a lot about the culture of Suzhou Bridge and the history of the Grand Canal

Then we drove to Wuzhen, Tongxiang City, Zhejiang Province, and visited the Daye Factory, the World Coin Museum, and the Hundred Beds Museum , Mao Dun’s former residence. On the way from Wuzhen to Hangzhou in the afternoon, we tasted the famous Hangzhou Longjing tea, learned about the picking and production methods of Longjing tea, and the classification of Longjing tea. I particularly like Longjing tea. When we arrived at Leifeng Pagoda in Hangzhou, it was about 5:30 pm. Now Leifeng Pagoda is rebuilt on the basis of the original tower. According to Director Xie, the original Leifeng Pagoda collapsed and was rebuilt from 2000 to 2002. Part of the old tower. We climbed to the top of the tower and overlooked the West Lake. The sun set in the west and the mountains and rivers in the east reflected each other. The legendary White Snake was cast by a mage under Leifeng Pagoda. The West Lake in the distance is so beautiful! At 19:15 in the evening, the large-scale performance "West Lake Night" was staged. Zhu Liang's love story, Yue Fei's loyalty to the country, and the development of the Song Dynasty are all vividly reproduced. The superb acrobatic performance brought the whole performance to climax, with continuous applause, and ended at 20:50. Go back to bed, beautiful! On the fourth day, on the morning of July 13th, we walked around the autumn scenery of Su Causeway, Qu Yuan Feng He and Liu Lang Wenying, took many photos, and then took a boat to enjoy the charming panoramic view of West Lake. You can have a panoramic view of the West Lake, Three Pools Reflecting the Moon, Long Bridge and Broken Bridge, and Xiling Bridge. Looking at the beautiful West Lake, Su Shi of the Northern Song Dynasty said, "The water is clear and clear, and the mountains, sky, and rain are strange. If you want to compare with the West Lake, light makeup and heavy makeup are always suitable," and he recited it casually. The Hangzhou Grand Canal is the last section of China's Grand Canal, starting from Beijing in the north and ending in Hangzhou in the south. It is also known as the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal. It connects the Haihe River, Yellow River, Huaihe River, Yangtze River and Qiantang River through the four provinces of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei, Shandong, Jiangsu and Zhejiang, with a total length of 1,794 kilometers. The Grand Canal is said to have been built by the Sui Dynasty Emperor Yang Di, who dug the canal along it for fun and it became the largest canal in the world. But it also objectively communicated the economic development and cultural exchanges between the North and the South. Suzhou and Hangzhou are known as the granaries of the world, and Hangzhou silk was also spread through the Grand Canal. There are many famous ancient bridges on the canal, which are also good tourism resources.

The social and tourist value of the Grand Canal is obvious. Looking at the water of the Grand Canal and the busy ships through the window of the cruise ship, the historical scenes came to my mind, as if I had experienced them personally. I visited Shanghai Jinmao Tower in the evening, 88 floors, 340m high, 45 seconds in the elevator , and then take the captain’s luxury cruise ship No. 5 to watch the night view of Shanghai’s Huangpu River. I went to Shanghai once, when I was a child. Now let's relive the old dream. On the morning of July 14th, the fifth day of our trip, we had a free time to visit the Shanghai Bund and Nanjing Road Pedestrian Street. I bought a lot of clothes at store No. 21, which are of good quality and low price. At 10 o'clock, I got in the car and went to the triage point. Although the beautiful scenery, friendly travelers, and excellent tour guides made me reluctant to leave, there was no such thing as a feast. More than 10 people on the same trip went their separate ways. "Jiangnan is good. The scenery used to be beautiful. Sunrise and flowers beat fire. Spring comes and the water is blue. Can you not remember Jiangnan?". The beauty of Jiangnan Water Town makes people drunk when they come and fall in love when they leave. The flowing water on the small bridge jingles, the spring water gushes out; the flowing water is lingering and gentle; the family on both sides of the strait is quiet and elegant. I simply don’t know how to describe the beauty of Jiangnan. I use this poem to express my mood, "Dream in the south of the Yangtze River, misty immortals compete." The peach blossom leaves are more hazy. A talented man, a beautiful woman, and her paintings are beautiful, but they also stay at this moment. "The trip to East China is over. I look forward to playing with my besties next time.