Zhejiang · 浙江 — China Cultured

China Cultured · 品味中国Province Book

China Cultured · 品味中国

Province Book · 省份之书

Zhejiang

浙江

The poetry of the south, in water and ink — West Lake, Wuzhen's canals, and tea that tastes like spring.

Zhejiang is the "Hang" in "above there is heaven, below there are Suzhou and Hangzhou." West Lake's causeways, Wuzhen's bridges, Putuo's temple bells, and the mellow amber of Shaoxing wine — this is landscape that poets and painters have spent a thousand years trying to capture.

What to See 好玩的

West Lake in Hangzhou is China's most famous lake: Su Causeway in spring, Broken Bridge in snow — one lake holding the whole aesthetic of the south. Wuzhen is the model water town: white walls and black tiles along the canal, lanterns glowing after dark. And Mount Putuo is the Buddhist island in the sea, temples facing the ocean.

Wuzhen — the water town, floating in a dream. Photo via Wikimedia Commons.

What to Eat 好吃的

Dongpo pork is the dish Su Dongpo left Hangzhou: pork belly slow-braised in rice wine and soy, meltingly tender. Longjing shrimp stir-fries the fragrance of West Lake tea into fresh shrimp. And Shaoxing wine should be drunk warm, with a plate of aniseed beans.

Longjing shrimp — tea and river shrimp in one dish. Photo via Wikimedia Commons.

Folk Customs 民间习俗

Opera on the waterYue opera, born in Shengzhou, is Zhejiang's own opera — sweet-voiced, full of scholars and beauties. She opera is the water-town tradition: at temple fairs a stage goes up by the river and boats gather to watch. And the Longjing tea-opening festival marks the first spring pick on the tea hills.

Want the full province atlas — all 34 provinces, what to see, what to eat, and the folk customs nobody tells you about? chinacultured.com/guide/province-atlas.html →

China Cultured · 品味中国Zhejiang · 2026

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Photos: West Lake, Wuzhen, Longjing shrimp — via Wikimedia Commons, CC-licensed. Licenses and authors available on the original file pages.