China's original heartland may have been the dusty Yellow River
basin, but it was the greenness and fertility of the Yangzi
River estuary that drew the Chinese south and provided them
with the wealth and power needed to sustain a huge empire. The
provinces of Jiangsu and Zhejiang , which today flank
the metropolitan area of Shanghai to the north and south, have been
playing a vital part in the cultural and economic development of
China for the last two thousand years. No tour of eastern China
would be complete without stopovers in some of their classic
destinations.
The story begins in the sixth century BC when the area was part
of the state of Wu and had already developed its own distinct
culture. The flat terrain, the large crop yield and the superb
communications offered by coastal ports and navigable waterways
enabled the principal towns of the area to develop quickly into
important trading centres . These presented an irresistible
target for the expanding Chinese empire under the Qin dynasty, and
in 223 BC the region was annexed, immediately developing into one
of the economic centres of the empire. After the end of the Han
dynasty in the third century AD, several regimes established
short-lived capitals in southern cities; however, the real boost
for southern China came when the Sui (589-618 AD) extended the
Grand Canal to link the Yangzi with the Yellow River and
ultimately to allow trade to flow freely between here and the
northern capitals. With this, China's centre of gravity took a
decisive shift south. Under later dynasties, Hangzhou and then
Nanjing became the greatest cities in China.
Visiting the region, you find yourself in a world of
water . The whole area is intensively drained, canalized,
irrigated and farmed, and the rivers, canals and lakes which web
the plain give it much of its character. The traditional way to
travel here was by boat , and today ferries continue to ply
the Yangzi, while the major sea ports - Shanghai, Ningbo, Wenzhou -
are also linked by coastal passenger services. There are even still
a few local services inland, such as those between Suzhou, Wuxi and
Hangzhou, along the canals in among silk farms and tea
plantations.
The powerful commercial cities of the waterways have long acted
as counterweights to the bureaucratic tendencies of Beijing. Both
Hangzhou and Nanjing have served as the capital of
China, the latter having been Sun Yatsen's capital during the brief
years of the Chinese Republic after the overthrow of the Qing
dynasty. Marco Polo called Hangzhou "the most beautiful and
magnificent city in the world", and its Xi Hu (West Lake), still
recognizable from classic scroll paintings, is deservedly rated as
one of the most scenic spots in China. Suzhou and
Yangzhou , too, should not be missed, for the bustle of life
along the canals that crisscross their centres, and the peace of
their famous gardens . These and other cities -
Zhenjiang , Wuxi , Ningbo - have also
developed as manufacturing centres, enjoying the boom which has put
Jiangsu and Zhejiang to the forefront of economic development in
China. Indeed, southern Jiangsu's per capita income is the highest
in China outside Shanghai, southern Guangdong and Hong Kong.
The downside to relative prosperity in China is chronic
over-population. Well over 120 million people live in Jiangsu,
Shanghai and Zhejiang and it can seem when crossing the area by
train that it has been built over from end to end. You will be
hard-pressed to find much that might be classed as countryside
here, with the exceptions of the area around the charming
Shaoxing , and, above all, the sacred Buddhist island of
Putuo Shan , which has superb beaches and monasteries set
deep in wooded hillsides.
For visitors, perhaps the most important point is that most
foreign tourists who come here are on expensive package tours, and
there are few facilities, such as foreigners' dormitories, for
independent travellers. Accommodation is almost uniformly on
the expensive side, with the cheapest hotels rarely dipping below
¥200 for a double room - often university accommodation is the only
budget possibility. As for the best season to visit, you
should note that the area around the Yangzi, despite being
low-lying and far from the northern plains, is unpleasantly cold
and damp in winter, and unbearably hot and sticky during the summer
months when most people choose to visit - Nanjing's age-old
reputation as one of the "three furnaces" of China is
well-justified. If possible, you should try to visit during the
spring, from mid-April to late May. Although short (many residents
claim if you blink, you'll miss it), the season's rainshowers,
sunshine and low humidity give the terrain a splash of green as
well as put reassuring smiles on the faces of residents emerging
from the harsh winter.