China Travel Forum

[Rogers]

Hello,

I will be in Shanghai for a week in late February and was wondering if anyone can recommend towns or sights outside the city that are close enough for day trips or an overnight stay, and are worth visiting. I would like a chance to see some countryside while I'm there.

I am also interested in tips on places to visit in the city that may give more of a glimpse of traditional chinese life, as opposed to the city as a big international finance centre. Any advice would be warmly welcomed.
Cheers,

[Wangme]

An intriguing insight into Shanghai's history is from a walk around the old Jewish ghetto. Start at Huoshan Park, and take a leisurely stroll through these older suburbs. Books of the era are now hard to come by, but the plaques and signage in the park is self-explanatory。

[Guest]

If you really want to see the countryside and can speak some Chinese, I'd recommend a 2 day trip to Anji County, about 4 hours by express bus.

While there you can visit the bamboo forests that were used in the filming of "Crouching Tiger" - Da Zhu Hai . You could return via Hangzhou.

[Tovey]

I went to Xitang last year, it's nice and less commercialised that Zhouzhang, some bizarre rule about foreigners not being allowed to stay in the old town though (or so we were told), we managed to get into a guest house in the old town (i was with someone chinese who pre-booked) but the owner was very nervous when she saw me, told us not to hang around the guest house where people could see me.

Hangzhou - yeah that's really nice, hire a bike and go for a ride around on the far side of the lake, lots of nice things to see there.

Another good area in town to see older Shanghai is the area around Fangbang dong lu, you'll probably end up in the area anyway if you visit Yu Gardens, it's only a short walk from there to the old area. Also, Dongtai lu can be interesting, there's an antique market there (well, mainly new "antiques"), but the area is quite interesting.