Hangzhou's Residence of Hu Xueyan This was an absolutely amazing site! It was not located on my itinerary and cannot be found in guidebooks. I don't know why. My guide knew about it because she lived around the corner from it and used to do her homework there. It is an ancient mansion with several large gardens still filled with furnishings and antiques. Because it is not well known, it is very quiet with few visitors. The site is very large and quite impressive. The mansion was built during the Qing Dynasty by Hangzhou's richest resident. The house is in an [View Full Entry]

---

---

Suzhou's Pan Gate Suzhou's Pan Gate is a large scenic area named after the Pan Gate which is one Suzhou's two remaining city gates. The scenic area is beautiful and quite large. The area is filled with gardens, pavilions, lakes, and pathways all beautifully manicured. It is a really beautiful place. The two main features of the area is the Pan Gate and the Auspicious Light Pagoda (Ruiguang). Both are cool in their own right. The pagoda is the oldest pagoda in Suzhou. It costs six kuai extra to climb it, but I thought it was well worth it. The views [View Full Entry]

---

---

Suzhou's No.1 Silk Factory When I heard I was going to the No.1 Silk Factory I was not too thrilled. I've been to a lot of different "factories" and they usually are just places where they try to sell overpriced souvenirs to tourists. I was quite surprised and happy to be wrong. It was a real factory making very high quality silk items which were reasonably priced. I bought a lot there and if I had more money would have bought much more. When entering the factory you can see the process of silk manufacturing from silkworm to silk. They had [View Full Entry]

---

---

Suzhou's Lingering Garden Suzhou's gardens are world famous and I have no doubt whatsoever why. They are simply stunning. I have visited a lot of them and would give anything to own one of my own. What really amazes me is that they were at one time private gardens only visited by their owners and his family. They are an amazing blend of nature and architecture. The Lingering Garden was the first Suzhou garden on my tour. It is stunning. The garden is filled with ponds and streams and has beautiful pavilions and building scattered throughout. Each is designed to offer [View Full Entry]

---

---

Wujiang Snack Street The Wujiang Snack street was an awesome place. It is really popular with locals, but not well known by visitors. It is a street that is a couple of blocks long which is lined with shops and booths, each one sells local snacks and snacks which are prepared in front of you. I gorged myself. The food was so cheap, and so delicious that I couldn't help myself. The Wujiang Snack Street feels like real local Shanghai, not at all touristy. People do not sit in the restaurants, instead they stroll d [View Full Entry]

---

---

Longhua Temple and Pagoda The Longhua Temple is the largest temple in Shanghai. It is magnificent and huge. Since it is located quite a distance from the center of the city, it doesn't really get tourists, so it feels like a real working temple and has no touristy aspects at all. Located out front of the temple is an ancient pagoda. It is spectacular. Because of its age visitors are not allowed inside. The temple itself is quite stunning. It must have been an extremely wealthy temple because its stone and woodwork a [View Full Entry]

---

---

Shanghai's Xintiandi Street Xintiandi street Is an amazing street filled with cafes, bistros and little boutiques. The area's buildings are made from architectural elements rescued from traditional Shanghai courtyard homes being demolished. They buildings are very beautiful and are uniquely Shanghai. They are a mix of Chinese and Western designs. The little cafes and bistros sell Western food which is fantastic. I bought a Reuben sandwich and it was spectacular. The little boutiques are very nice and sell very special items. I s [View Full Entry]

---

---

Shanghai World Financial Center The SWFC opened in August 2008. It is the largest building in the world from ground to rooftop. The building houses offices, a hotel, and observation floors. The building has three observation floors: the 94th floor Sky Arena, the 97th floor Skywalk, and the 100th floor Skywalk. Visitors enter the area and go directly to the basement to get their tickets and enter the elevators. Visitors are allowed to enter a room with a spinning model of the building covered in flashing lights before heading to the elevators. The elevators rush them to the 94th floor [View Full Entry]

---

---

Huangshan (Yellow) Mountain Huangshan Mountain is the most famous mountain in China. It is famed as being the most beautiful. There is an ancient Chinese saying that says "After visiting Huangshan Mountain, there is no reason to ever visit another mountain". It is said that each season is more beautiful than the one before. I have to say that they are absolutely correct. Huangshan Mountain is truly stunning. I'm sorry to say that nothing I could ever write, or any photo I took, could come anywhere close to describing the beauty of the place, and I took some amazing photographs. I [View Full Entry]

---

---

Hu Kaiwen Ink Stick Factory The Hu Kaiwen Ink stick Factory is the oldest continually operating ink stick factory in China. Huangshan is famous for producing the finest traditional Chinese art supplies in China. One of these is ink sticks. Ink sticks are a stick of ink that needs to be ground on an ink stone with a little water to produce ink for painting and calligraphy. I study traditional Chinese landscape painting, and was very excited about visiting the factory. When we arrived, my guide explained the history of the factory which was first opened in the 18th century during [View Full Entry]

---

---