Why must you travel to "Jiangnan"?

I had dinner with my classmates last Saturday night. During the dinner, we had an in-depth exchange of experiences about our trip to Jiangnan in the past six months, and we had a lot of emotions.

Coincidentally, in the past two weeks, I have been receiving greetings from strangers on WeChat. Most of them are parents. It turns out that they plan to take their children to Jiangnan this summer and want to get some practical travel advice from me. I told everyone about some of my travel experiences. After understanding it, everyone felt that my travel process was particularly suitable for children (they are all parents of primary school students).

Well, it just so happens that these two days are rare free time, so I will quickly code and share with you some of my travel experiences and thoughts in detail. I hope that parents can make a correct "Jiangnan travel plan" for their children this summer vacation.

First of all, I have to tell you the truth. I am not a professional travel expert. The only cities I have visited are Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Hangzhou, Suzhou, Chongqing Qianjiang, Sichuan Youyang, Xi'an, and Taiyuan. , Qingdao, Jinan, Linyi, Yangzhou, Wuzhen, Yantai, Rizhao, Qufu, Tai'an, Liaocheng, Zhuozhou, Langfang, Qingzhou, Linqu, ***23 cities.

As for China, with a land area of ??9.6 million square kilometers and currently 693 cities (the number of cities increases every year), there are countless attractions suitable for children. Professional travel experts and some cultural figures have much richer travel experience than me. Simply enter a city or scenic spot keyword online, and you can search for millions of travel notes and travel guides. Coupled with the travel documentaries and short tour guide videos that are all over the major video websites, especially the "Aerial China" that made people cry, over the past three seasons, a set of optimal city and scenic spot selection routes has been formulated for everyone.

In view of this, I can only provide you with some reference from three aspects: cultural learning, attraction experience, and city selection.

Topic: Ten-day trip to Jiangnan

Route: Hangzhou→Suzhou→Wuzhen→Yangzhou

Departure time: April 6

Personnel: Me + a one-and-a-half-year-old child + three elderly people in their 50s

For this travel route, I first determined the theme of "Jiangnan", so I limited the geographical scope to Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai. . In the early stage, we first selected some cities, and then took into account the hard work of taking care of children, the physical strength of the elderly, and the connections between cities, and finally decided on these four places.

Why develop a "Jiangnan Tourism Plan"?

Of course, the scenery in the south of the Yangtze River is beautiful and picturesque. Every year in February and March, as the weather gradually gets warmer, people will automatically recite the famous saying - "Fireworks descend to Yangzhou in March". In the end, What kind of scenery in Yangzhou can make Li Bai's seven words spread to this day? I really want to fly to Yangzhou immediately to find out the reason.

From a literary and historical perspective, traveling to the south of the Yangtze River is really necessary. Hangzhou is a gathering place for ancient literati. Su Shi and Bai Juyi left a large number of poems in Hangzhou, as well as the myths and legends of the White Snake and Xu Xian.

In "A Dream of Red Mansions", Lin Daiyu's ancestral home is Suzhou. The book says that Daiyu took a boat from Changmen to her grandmother's house in Nanjing, and then wrote about the ten-mile street outside the house to introduce the characters. Changmenwai Shili Street here is Shantang Street, a very famous ancient street in Suzhou. But Lin Daiyu did not grow up in Suzhou, but in Yangzhou, because his father Lin Ruhai was the salt inspector of Yangzhou.

Many of the descriptions of clothing styles in "A Dream of Red Mansions" are Su embroidery. Only by going to Suzhou to see Su embroidery and Suzhou silk can we more fully understand why "A Dream of Red Mansions" is an encyclopedia about ancient Chinese culture and the social life of ancient aristocrats.

Needless to say the history of Jiangnan. It was only after the "Southern Crossing in Clothes" during the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties that Jiangnan became popular. After Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty built the Grand Canal, Jiangnan began their The road to prosperity.

To explain a little, the "Southern Crossing in Clothes" is not a victorious activity, but the flight of the Central Plains nobles to the south, and the Central Plains civilization and political power moved south to avoid chaos. To put it bluntly, traveling to the south in attire means the Great Migration. At that time, Jiangsu Province received the most immigrants, with the largest concentration in Nanjing, Changzhou, Zhenjiang, and Yangzhou. According to historical data, Shandong accounts for half of the immigrants, followed by Hebei, Henan, Shanxi, Shaanxi and other places.

So, no matter what, I must go to Jiangnan next time when I have time to feel the beauty of Jiangnan and have a deep understanding of the local humanities and history. Only in this way can we truly understand the Chinese language course and let the books and papers be cold. The text comes alive.

Below, I will talk about some experiences and feelings in each city.

Hangzhou

Accommodation: Be sure to stay in a hotel or B&B near West Lake. I made a reservation five days in advance on Meituan.

Transportation: subway, bus, taxi, very convenient.

This is my second time to Hangzhou. The places I visited were West Lake, Hefang Street, Leifeng Pagoda, and Xixi Wetland.

Let’s talk about Xixi Wetland first. Xixi Wetland is a famous 5A-level scenic spot and is included in some city picture books. Therefore, having consulted city picture books in advance, I must choose Xixi Wetland during this trip to Hangzhou.

When I went there, I felt a little bit that it wasn’t worth it. It wasn’t that it was bad, but that there was no need to go.

First, it is too far away from West Lake. It takes nearly an hour and a half by bus + subway. Second, we cannot feel the humanity and history because the main focus here is "nature", which deviates from the theme of our trip. However, the children loved it and had a lot of fun playing with the various plants, birds, and gravel floors. There are very few people. It can be said that there is almost no one except us. Children can run around in it. It is a good place for physical exercise, but I really don’t need to bring my children here to exercise.

Hefang Street is similar to that ancient street in every city. It is very close to the West Lake. There are many delicious food and places to eat, especially in non-busy areas. The snacks in the alleys are actually better than in the busy areas. too much. After finding Hefang Street, the problem of eating was solved.

It is necessary to go to Leifeng Pagoda Scenic Area. First of all, the scenery is beautiful. Standing on the highest floor of Leifeng Pagoda, you can see the West Lake surrounded by green trees. Suddenly, you can understand why Bai Suzhen, who is still cultivating immortality in heaven, is attracted by the West Lake and insists on secretly descending to earth. Leifeng Pagoda contains the complete story of "The Legend of White Snake", which is different from the storyline in the TV series we are familiar with. There is a floor in the tower that uses wood carvings to vividly and three-dimensionally restore the story. While reading the story, people will naturally think of the context of Chinese mythology and cannot help but marvel at the wonderful storytelling and imagination of the ancients!

Finally, let’s talk about West Lake. Since you are here for literature and history, you must visit the West Lake, and you must swim in depth. If you only give Hangzhou three days, then you can spend these three days on the West Lake, and there is no need to go to other places. It is best to find a tour guide to explain it all the way so that you can truly feel the profound cultural heritage of West Lake.

When I came to West Lake this time, I mainly went to see the "Lake Pavilion" in the West Lake. The familiar "Looking at the Snow in the Pavilion in the Heart of the Lake" is a prose written by Zhang Dai, a writer in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties. In the article, "a trace of the long embankment, a pavilion in the center of the lake, a mustard with the boat, and two or three grains of people in the boat", with just a few strokes without any whitewash, it outlines such a long and refined beautiful picture, and presents people with a line drawing. The best example of writing technique. If Zhang Dai was afraid of the cold and refused to go out in the snow to see the snow in the Huxin Pavilion in person, there would be one less excellent work in our literary history. I came here for the Pavilion at the Heart of the Lake and to understand Zhang Dai. I got on the boat at night, passed by the Pavilion at the Heart of the Lake, looked at the night view of the West Lake, and imagined Zhang Dai's mood at that time. Only then did I feel that I had further understood the masterpiece.

Suzhou

Accommodation: Stay in a brand hotel near the train station. There is a subway nearby and it is very close to the attractions. It is also booked through Meituan.

Transportation: Going to scenic spots is all by subway, which is very convenient.

During those three days in Suzhou, we worked very hard. We insisted on going out even if it rained, and fully experienced the charm of the city. Places to visit are The Lingering Garden, Fengqiao Scenic Area & Hanshan Temple, Suzhou Silk Museum, Shantang Street, Pingjiang Road, Suzhou Garden Museum, and Jinji Lake.

Suzhou is most famous for its gardens. There are more than 170 large and small gardens in Suzhou. If you are not a student majoring in gardening or architecture, just visit one. This is the guide and the local people Said. We went to the Lingering Garden. The tour guide said that the Lingering Garden is the first of the four major gardens. To be honest, we really didn’t understand it at the time. It wasn't until I returned to Shandong that I visited a garden in the ancient city of Qingzhou. By contrast, I felt the elegance, sophistication and high artistic level of Suzhou gardens.

There is an article in the junior high school Chinese textbook "Suzhou Gardens" by Ye Shengtao, which is an expository article introducing gardening knowledge. Of course, this article is also an excellent example of expository writing. Read this article twice before going to Suzhou to visit the gardens. After the visit, read this article again and sort out the layout of the article. Children may easily master the writing method of expository essays without the need for teachers to explain.

When visiting gardens, I always think of the description of the Grand View Garden in "A Dream of Red Mansions". After leaving Suzhou, I checked the information and found out that the Humble Administrator’s Garden is closely related to the Grand View Garden in “A Dream of Red Mansions”. Cao Xueqin's grandfather, Cao Yin, once served as an official in Suzhou and purchased part of the Humble Administrator's Garden for his family to live in. Cao Xueqin lived in the Humble Administrator's Garden for a while when he was a boy. Some people say that there are too many similarities between the Humble Administrator's Garden and the Grand View Garden. Cao Xueqin moved the memory of the pavilions, pavilions, flowers, plants and trees in the Humble Administrator's Garden to the Grand View Garden in Dream of Red Mansions, and thus created an amazing "paper garden collection". ".

So when going to Suzhou, you still have to go to the Humble Administrator’s Garden. What a pity, I didn't go. At that time, the tour guide said that July and August are the best months to visit the Humble Administrator's Garden, because the lotus flowers in the garden are in bloom at that time. Parents and children who go to Suzhou during the summer vacation must not miss the Humble Administrator's Garden.

You must go to Maple Bridge Scenic Area, because there is an ancient poem here that primary school students must memorize - "Night Mooring at Maple Bridge"

The moon is setting, the crows are crying, the sky is full of frost, and the river maple is Fishing fire versus melancholy.

At Hanshan Temple outside Gusu City, the midnight bell rang for the passenger ship.

Familiar? Not only do Chinese children have to memorize it, but even primary school textbooks in some Asian countries require it.

Fengqiao Scenic Area and Hanshan Temple are together. If the weather is good, the scenery there is really beautiful. It is no exaggeration to say that it will cause the first-time tourists to scream!

The night view of Shantang Street is also very beautiful. Too many tourists came to take pictures on the bridge. I was squeezed up and down by the crowd. There were security guards on the bridge who kept saying: Take pictures. Just one photo will do, and leave quickly after taking the photo...

You should also go and take a look at the Suzhou Silk Museum. Although this is where the tour guide asked us to pay, we listened to the staff inside explaining the history of silk. , the history of the Silk Road, and watching the process of picking mulberry, raising silkworms, and stripping cocoons to make silk are very helpful for us to understand the "Silk Road".

I won’t say much about other places. We went to Pingjiang Road, Jinji Lake, and the Garden Museum recommended by the locals. If you have enough time, you can go shopping.

Wuzhen

Accommodation: There are many B&Bs in Wuzhen outside Xizha Scenic Area, so just book in advance with Meituan.

Transportation: There is no subway, buses or taxis are very convenient

In fact, it is not recommended to take children to Wuzhen. This place is neither suitable for children of one or two years old. Teenage elementary school students play.

Because this is the place to fall in love.

What’s more interesting is that this is not a place for ordinary lovers or ordinary couples to go. This is the habitat of soul mates and a utopia where literary and artistic young people place their love.

Why do you say that? Because Wuzhen's culture is almost entirely supported by Huang Lei and Rene Liu's romance film "Times Past". The TV series tells the story of soul mates, and the final ending is of course that love cannot be achieved. Such stories and endings have injected love culture into Wuzhen and become the spiritual totem of Wuzhen. If you come to Wuzhen without watching the drama, Wuzhen will give you nothing but boredom. That’s why tourists keep complaining: It’s so boring! So boring!

Parents are advised to change Wuzhen to Zhenjiang. Zhenjiang is also an ancient city with culture and history. Beigu Mountain in Zhenjiang has become famous throughout the ages because of "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms". Ganlu Temple is the most famous, and this is where Liu Bei recruited his bride. In the past dynasties, many literati and poets gathered here to enjoy the scenery. Su Dongpo, Shen Kuo, Mi Fu, Lu You, Xin Qiji, etc. all left many poems here that have been passed down through the ages. Well worth a visit.

Yangzhou

Accommodation: If you want to stay near Slender West Lake, you can book in hotels or B&Bs through Meituan.

Transportation: There is no subway in Yangzhou, buses are very convenient, and taxis are quite cheap.

After visiting Wuzhen, the old people were homesick and did not want to go to Yangzhou again. I persuaded them to hold on for two more days. We were all in Jiangnan and we must not miss Yangzhou. I also temporarily found some beautiful photos of Slender West Lake on the Internet to show to the elderly. Finally, I suppressed the old people's desire to go home.

Why must you come to Yangzhou?

Someone has done statistics and found that Yangzhou is the city that appears most frequently in ancient poems, such as "Dream of Yangzhou every ten years", "Fireworks descend on Yangzhou in March", "Pocketed with a hundred thousand guan, riding on a crane" "Going down to Yangzhou"...

Yangzhou often appears in ancient poetry, not by chance, but because it has unique conditions and environment. From the Tang and Song Dynasties to the Ming and Qing Dynasties, Yangzhou was an important economic center in the Jiangnan region, responsible for most of the country's tax revenue. Economic development will inevitably bring about cultural prosperity. The prosperity of Yangzhou at that time really made the literati who visited it couldn't help but write poems and praise it.

Yangzhou’s food is even more famous. Yangzhou cuisine has been recorded in too many food documentaries.

When you come to Yangzhou, you must go to Slender West Lake. My mother-in-law complained along the way: This lake and that lake are not as good as Daming Lake in Jinan. I didn't say anything. When we arrived at Slender West Lake, my mother-in-law was immediately intoxicated. She said it was so beautiful, more beautiful than Suzhou and better than Wuzhen. She hesitated and said it was better than Daming Lake and better than West Lake in Hangzhou.

When visiting Slender West Lake, you must follow a tour guide. There are too many main knowledge points. How did Yangzhou in the Tang Dynasty become a first-tier city? How did Yangzhou salt merchants spend a lot of money to build a white pagoda to please the emperor? What kind of changes has the Twenty-Four Bridge experienced? Who designed Wuting Bridge? What TV series are filmed here? If you rely solely on Baidu searches, tourists can only get a superficial understanding of the Slender West Lake, but cannot understand the true cultural connotation of Slender West Lake.

Just outside Slender West Lake is the Daming Temple of Monk Jianzhen. The incident of Monk Jianzhen’s eastward journey to Japan is a must-know knowledge point in history textbooks. Just for this reason, Daming Temple is worth visiting.

Dongguan Street is also an ancient street & food street, but it is too far away from Shantang Street in Suzhou and Hefang Street in Hangzhou. If you are short on time, you don’t need to go to this street.

Yangzhou is known as the "Gourmet Capital of the World". When you come to Yangzhou, if you don’t eat Yangzhou’s local delicacies, your understanding of Yangzhou will still be half incomplete. The most famous ones in Yangzhou are Yangzhou fried rice, sandwich buns, dried shredded noodles, lion head, old goose, thousand-layer oil cake, shrimp dumplings, skin-wrapped water, lotus root starch glutinous rice balls, etc. Yangzhou locals say they recommend outsiders to eat at Fuchun Tea House. The most popular ones now are Quyuan, Zhichun and Dongyuan. In short, you must taste Yangzhou's food. The ultimate experience of clear soup, mellow taste, lightness and tenderness. If it weren't for the prosperity of Yangzhou back then, such exquisite food would not be possible.

Well, the above is my Jiangnan travel process.

You can change the city and route according to your own circumstances.

Happy summer travel!