Hangzhou is a picturesque and popular tourist destination within easy reach of Shanghai residents - but there is much more to the place than just beautiful West Lake.
Many Shanghai people find Hangzhou a "cliched" tourist destination - close and easy. But it's hard to think of a better place to resign yourself to countryside pleasures.
Two weeks back my wife and I ventured into the mountains around Hangzhou that are low enough for a three-hour trek but still high enough to make you gasp.
That was exactly what we wanted: a healthy dose of weekend exercise - not too much, not too little - to cure the ills of a week's sedentary office work.
In this golden season of tourism (April and May), it is wise to avoid the crowds at Hangzhou's hugely popular West Lake, even though it is wondrous in many ways. If you have never been to Hangzhou, you should visit the lake, otherwise perhaps follow our footsteps along a largely unbeaten track deep into the mountains and to the discovery of a rich tea culture.
All you need is a bit of daring.
There are many bullet trains from Shanghai South Railway Station to Hangzhou each day. We booked tickets for a train that departed at 9:30am and arrived in Hangzhou at 10:46am on Saturday. Actually it takes more than two hours for many of my work colleagues to travel from home to the office in Shanghai every day.
If you take Metro Line 1 from People's Square, you will get to Shanghai South Railway Station in 20 minutes. Another hour and you will be in Hangzhou. Another 20 minutes by taxi will take you to Zhejiang Hotel, a state-run five-star hotel at the foot of Santai Mountain. The hotel is wedged between the famous Longjing Road that leads to the China Tea Museum and Santaishan Road, leading to Santai Mountain and Southern Peak.
Zhejiang Hotel was built in the 1970s, initially as a temporary dwelling for Marshal Lin Biao. Guests of the hotel can visit the old 1970s facilities for free.

Kids dressed in ancient attire practice calligraphy, demonstrating the scene of ancient schooling.[Shanghai Daily]
Regarded as a land of fortune, Changle Village in Lanxi City, Zhejiang Province, is the only scenic spot in Jiangnan (region south of the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River) that truly showcases the culture of an emperor.
This is the place where Zhu Yuanzhang, the first emperor of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), made crucial steps to build his empire.
Zhu received assistance from leading statesmen Liu Bowen and Song Lian, studied at a Confucian school of philosophy, and later applied what he'd learned in his strategic governing of the area. A decade later, he proclaimed himself emperor in Nanjing, now capital of neighboring Jiangsu Province.
Changle Village is famed for its uniquely preserved traditional Chinese culture and folk activities.
Wuju Opera, also known as Jinhua Opera, is one of Zhejiang Province's best-known art forms. Every year, Changle villagers perform this opera on the local stage to encourage their crops and to pray for a generous harvest.
Changle villagers have a great love and respect for the lotus plant. They consider it an ideal food material and medical ingredient. On July 7 each year, villagers follow a tradition of floating lotus lanterns down the river and praying for happiness. Another ritual involves offering a sacrifice to the Big Dipper and praying for good fortune.
The area is rich in the architecture of the Yuan (1271-1368) and Ming dynasties.
One of the most famous is Kulun Hall from the Ming Dynasty which features two impressive stone gates. Zishu Hall is another fascinating building, built in the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), and features vertical pillars on the outside that have remained strangely crooked for longer than anybody can remember.

The 2008 International Seaside City of Tourism Development summit was held this morning in Rizhao, a beautiful costal city in east China's Shandong Province.
With the theme of "Ocean, Ecology, Environmentally-friendly and the Future", this year’s gathering is building a platform to encourage exchanges among tourism cities home and abroad on the topics including the travel industry, image-building tourism and management, as well as environmental protection.
The summit is jointly hosted by the Shandong Provincial Tourism Administration and Rizhao Municipal Government. More than 300 representatives from 23 international organizations, including the World Tourism Organization, the International Green Industry Cooperation Organization, the United Nations Industry Development Organization, and the Pacific Islands Forum Trade Office, as well as ambassadors from 47 embassies in China are participating in the summit.
Through various forums and discussion sessions, the summit provides a good opportunity for coastal cities to learn more about the development of tourism in terms of innovation, and studying previous experiences and efficient management models.
"Holidaying in costal cities has become a popular way of traveling in many developed tourism countries, from which the number of people visiting beaches covers half of the total visitors' numbers", Yu Chong, director of the Shandong Provincial Tourism Bureau, told China Daily.
Holiday tourism is still new in China. However, as more people have leisure time and are interested in taking “fashionable tours", , having a holiday on the beach will attract more travelers in China. Learning from other tourism coastal cities and making Shandong a unique and favorable holiday destination has become one of the most significant tasks for Shandong's tourism development in recent years.
Located in the southeast Shandong Province, Rizhao is a coastal port city and enjoys abundant tourism resources. The city boasts a coastline of 100 kilometers, 64 kilometers of which are golden beaches and meet the standard of world first-class bathing beaches.
In the last few years, Rizhao has been granted many honorable titles, including China’s Outstanding Tourism City, National Model City of Environmental Protection, Environmentally-friendly National Model City, and National Garden City.
The summit held in Rizhao will further develop the city. More importantly, it will play an active role in conducting exchange and collaboration on tourism development between China and other countries, as well as in promoting the development of the economy, culture, environmental protection and other relevant aspects of tourism industry for the seaside cities home and abroad, Yu explained.
In conjunction with the summit, other events like the Thousand Travel Agencies Conference, Dialogue between Nordic Investment Bank and Rizhao, and Rizhao Beer Festival are also drawing attentionin the city.