City guide · 嘉兴 Jiaxing
Jiaxing
A land of fish and rice beside the Grand Canal, where Wuzhen's water pavilions and the South Lake red boat live side by side
Jiaxing lies in northeastern Zhejiang, on the north shore of Hangzhou Bay, on flat terrain threaded with waterways — a representative city of the Jiangnan water country. The red boat on South Lake is the memorial site of the founding of the Chinese Communist Party; the two living ancient water towns of Wuzhen and Xitang stand in Tongxiang and Jiashan respectively; the tidal bore at Yanguan, Haining leather, Jiashan Yaozhuang yellow peaches and Jiaxing zongzi are each a calling card. Historically Jiaxing prospered on silk, rice and Grand Canal shipping, and produced literati in generation after generation. Within the half-hour high-speed-rail circle of Shanghai and Hangzhou, Jiaxing is becoming the water-town gateway of the Yangtze River Delta integration demonstration zone.
History
How the city came to be
Jiaxing lies on the water-network plain of the Taihu Lake basin and was contested ground between Wu and Yue in the Spring and Autumn period. The Qin established Haiyan and Youquan counties, Youquan being the predecessor of Jiaxing. In the third year of Huanglong under Wu of the Three Kingdoms (AD 231), Youquan was renamed Hexing County for the auspicious omen of "wild rice growing by itself", and in the fifth year of Chiwu it was changed to Jiaxing County — the name Jiaxing was thus fixed. After the Grand Canal (the Jiangnan River) was cut through in the Sui dynasty, Jiaxing became an important town of canal shipping and the core of the land of fish and rice. In the Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing, Jiaxing silk (Puyuan, Wangjiangjing) linked with Huzhou and Suzhou into the Jiangnan weaving network, and culturally there emerged such masters as Zhu Yizun and Wang Guowei. In 1921, the South Lake session of the First CPC Congress was completed here, and the modern history of China opened a new page. Today's Jiaxing is an important node of the Shanghai metropolitan circle, with four great tourism calling cards: Wuzhen, Xitang, South Lake and Yanguan.
- 231Wu of the Three Kingdoms renames Youquan County to Hexing County, later Jiaxing County
- Sui, the Daye eraThe Jiangnan Canal is connected, and Jiaxing becomes a shipping thoroughfare (as commonly recorded)
- Song and YuanJiaxing's silk and rice industries flourish; Puyuan town becomes a national silk centre
- 1921The First CPC Congress moves to a pleasure boat on Jiaxing's South Lake to conclude
- 1949Jiaxing is liberated
- 1983The prefecture-level city of Jiaxing is established
- 2001The conservation and development of Wuzhen's Dongzha is completed and opened to the public
- 2013The first Wuzhen Theatre Festival is held; Wuzhen becomes the permanent home of the World Internet Conference in the following year
Trips beyond the city
These places can be explored from this city but lie outside it. See each place for transport and visiting guidance.
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