Manju 58 Hostel

Song Dynasty Theme Park

by Sobe-A-Rush

The ticket costs about 70-100RMB, Definitly worth a visit. Cool temples, dance shows, old chinese traditional things to see and try. You have to pay more for the dance shows, we didnt get to go it was sold out. Have heard they are worth seeing. We went during a holiday and it was super packed, dont go during holiday unless you have to.

Hangzhou

by mke1963

Hangzhou is a very civilized place, as evidenced by the smart new VW Passat taxis at the airport; it is also rather mercenary, as evidenced by the taxi-driver caliming the new meter was broken and trying to charge me double the rate to the city.
Hangzhou is regarded by many as a model city for China's future. Much of China recognises that their cities and towns need tomodernise but find the scope and scale of Shanghai's modernisation simply too alien and "unChinese". For them, the simpler, more placid style of Hangzhou (and cities like Xiamen) are easier to replicate and probably also a lot less expensive.
Despite having some archaeological discoveries in the area, Hangzhou is actually not particularly old - but then 'old' in China is very much a relative term.

Here, in the steamy fair light of northern Zhejiang Hangzhou is different kind of city altogether. It almost revels in its history and culture, yet ironically is not particularly rich in either. It just oozes charm and begs to be explored – on foot or by hopping on and off one of the multitudes of buses. As a rather jaded China hack, it was a pleasant revelation to find proper pavements, trees and greenery everywhere, and a general feeling that everywhere had been planned with a feel for humanity and the place of people in their environment. Admittedly this wonderful treat was in an area which is one of China’s main tourist attractions – the Xihu or West Lake, but it is still significant. One should not assume that China has been able to creatively preserve and enhance any area simply because it attracts tourists: in fact the reverse is usually true, as visitors to the Great Wall at Badaling, parts of Beijing, Zhangjiajie, Kunming or Shanghai can verify. The presence of the tourist dollar usually brings out the worst in planners and attracts excessive commercial exploitation.
Hangzhou still retains plenty of 1960s, 1970s and 1980s Chinese architectural monstrosities and baleful urban structures, and sadly the standards of driving seem worse than anywhere else in China, but there seems to be a real ambition in Hangzhou to create a real Chinese city from the pavement upwards.

I am immensely impressed with Hangzhou and feel that Chinese and foreign visitors will leave the city with a positive feel for the city which can only help attract investment and new residents. Many of the world’s biggest cities have small-town neighbours to counter the big-city rush – London has Oxford and Cambridge, LA has towns like Santa Barbara, Boston has Cambridge, MA, and Paris Fontainbleau. So Shanghai looks set to feed and nourish cities like Suzhou and particularly Hangzhou. In time I can see Shanghai companies and residents moving to “the quieter life” of these smaller neighbouring cities, and Hangzhou is developing perfectly in that role.
At the risk of being accused of sexism, I do wonder if perhaps there are more women among the city-fathers of Hangzhou than one might find in other Chinese cities?