Wenzhou

Overview

About

Wenzhou, on the south-east coast of Zhejiang on the lower Ou River, was known in the past as Yongjia and Dong’ou, with mountains on three sides and the sea on the fourth. Yongjia Commandery was set up in the Eastern Jin, and the poet Xie Lingyun, prefect of Yongjia in the Southern Dynasties, wrote many landscape poems here, founding the Chinese tradition of landscape poetry. In the Southern Song Wenzhou was the birthplace of southern drama (nanxi). See also Cities of China.

Jiangxin Island in the Ou River, with its east and west pagodas and Jiangxin Temple, is the symbol of the city. Within Wenzhou are Yandang Mountain at Yueqing, famous for strange peaks and waterfalls, and the Nanxi River at Yongjia, clear and shallow with old villages along its banks — both national scenic areas.

The people of Wenzhou are known as traders, and many have gone abroad to make a living since modern times, so Wenzhou is also a famous home of overseas Chinese. Its snacks are many, with fish balls and fried rice cakes among the best known.

Travel tips

Getting there: Wenzhou Longwan International Airport is east of the city; high-speed trains run to Wenzhou South.

Sightseeing: Half a day for Jiangxin Island; Yandang Mountain and the Nanxi River are one to two hours away and are worth a night each.

Photo credits: Jiangxin Temple on Jiangxin Island: 猫猫的日记本 (CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons); Yandang Mountain: 江上清风1961 (CC BY 3.0, Wikimedia Commons)