Yangzhou has a history of civilization of more than 5000 years and a city-building history of more than 2500 years. It is a national historical and cultural city known as the “Capital of Canal”, “Food Capital of the World”, and “Cultural Capital of East Asia”. Yangzhou has a profound cultural heritage. Traditional cultures such as Eight Eccentrics of Yangzhou, Yangzhou School, and Yangzhou Knives are magnificent. More than 20 traditional handicrafts such as Yangzhou Jade Carving have been included in the representative list of national intangible cultural heritage. Experiencing the continuing cultural heritage for thousands of years, you can be immersed in the charm of Yangzhou’s intangible cultural heritage. Follow my footsteps and experience it together!
Day 1: Morning Tea at Fuchun Tea House - Visit the Jade Museum in the 486 Intangible Cultural Heritage Cluster Area- Learn about Xiefuchun’s Handmade Fragrant Powder in Dongguan Street- Visit Geyuan Garden
When you come to Yangzhou, you must taste the morning tea here. The century-old Fuchun Tea House is a specialty of Yangzhou’s morning tea. Fuchun Tea House’s Huaiyang Dim Sum is an outstanding representative of Yangzhou pastry. Fuchun pastry-making techniques have also been selected as representatives of intangible cultural heritage along with other traditional Chinese tea making techniques.
Fuchun Tea House’s traditional famous dish, Three-Dice Bun, is known as “the best dish under the sun”; Multiple Layer Cakes and Steamed Vegetable Shaomai are called the “Excellent Duo of Yangzhou”, and the Crab Roe Bun won the “Jinding Award” at the China Food Festival.
After having morning tea, you can visit the Jade Museum in the 486 Intangible Cultural Heritage Cluster Area to learn about Jade Carving, a national intangible cultural heritage skill. The museum has three exhibition halls that focus on the production process of jade articles and the inheritance and development of Yangzhou jade articles.
“Yangzhou is the most famous origin of aromatic herbs in China.” Since the Qing Dynasty, Yangzhou Fragrant Powder has been famous all over the country. Xiefuchun Fragrant Powder is one of its representatives. Come to Dongguan Street and see how Xiefuchun Cosmetics makes fragrant powder by hand. Xiefuchun’s fragrant powder and balm making technique is a special technique including extracting fragrance from flowers and injecting it into powder and oil materials, adding supplements from other materials such as Chinese medicine. It is included in the national intangible cultural heritage list due to its ancient production techniques.
Geyuan Garden is located on Dongguan Street and is a model of Yangzhou salt merchants’ gardens. Geyuan Garden features bamboo as its characteristic plant and is famous for its four-season rockeries that symbolize the four seasons. Both the design concept and the stone-stacking technique are relatively rare. Chen Congzhou, a master in garden design, praised it as "a unique example in China’s garden art".
Overnight Stay: Yangzhou Renfengli Homestay
The homestay is located on Renfengli Street, one of the four major historical and cultural blocks in Yangzhou. The homestay was formerly a charming mansion of a scholar-bureaucrat in the late Qing Dynasty, which is a typical Jiangnan Hui-style residential building.
Day 2: Put on Hanfu in Renfengli - Make Sola Flowers by hand - Enjoy Yangzhou Quyi in Renfengli Theater
Waking up in Renfengli Homestay, you can stroll around the Renfengli block freely by simply opening the door. Put on Hanfu and take a walk along the street to feel the integration of ancient and modern time and space in the atmosphere. Many cultural and artistic shops are located here. You can have a cup of coffee on the roof of UKIUKI, learn about the past and present of Renfengli in the old photo gallery, take a good book from the city bookstore, and sit down to read quietly. There is not only a rich historical and cultural atmosphere but also a simple and pleasant life enriched by “Shuangguiquan” bathrooms, grocery stores, fried cake and fried bread stick shops, shoemaker shops, etc.
In the early Qing Dynasty, Sola Flowers originated in Yangzhou. It is an artistic masterpiece that was initiated and developed from Yangzhou’s thousands of years of traditional flower-making techniques. You can learn how to make Sola Flowers by hand in Yangzhou. Trimming petals, shaping, sticking petals, dyeing colors, making stamens… each process is a great test that ultimately leads to a great sense of accomplishment after completion.
Yangzhou Quyi has a history of more than 600 years and a unique artistic style. Before the end of your trip, you can go to Renfengli Theater to enjoy your time and feel the leisure and romance of Yangzhou through music.
