No-nonsense China Expat Blog

I’m a romantic. I like romatic places. China, in general isn’t.

I state my case:

1. Think China, think The Great Wall. Long. Visible from space. Testament to power, fear and a plentiful supply of labour. Kind of pretty in winter in the less frequented sections, I admit. Romance rating: 3/10
2. Think China, think The Forbidden City. Even the name gives you a hint, forbidding indeed. A vast, empty place. Not even the wooden sleeping chambers and tales of a myriad concubines can save points here. Romantic rating: 2/10
3. Think China, think The Terracotta Warriors. For terracotta lovers everywhere, the ultimate army, but for “lovers” per se ? Romance Rating: 1/10

Even the seductive promise of watching the sunrise from the top of a mountain - any mountain - is just a tease. Way too many mountain tops in China are microcosms of what’s happening a thousand metres or so beneath their summits… ( but that’s another story).

Anyway, just when I think I can’t take the never-ending-horde-gizmo-seller’d-pot-noodle-stand’d-rip-off-rickshaw’d-rubbish-dumping-group-travel-louder-the-better mentality that makes finding a romantic spot in China virtually impossible so why am I here?!?!?!? I am reminded.

By some freak of sino-nature, China has the capacity to pull tiny, ancient, watery towns out of her enormous hat - and it is, as if by magic, that I found Wuzhen.

Wuzhen, on the edge of the Grand Canal in Zhejiang Province, is a labyrinth of hutong-esque streets, dark-tiled houses and green-watered canals that have been sat busily gathering history and culture (and romance) for over 1000 years.  See their website for loads more information.

Marriage proposal pretty during the day, it’s at night that Wuzhen comes into its own. A fairytale of inspired lighting, uncommonly subtle for China, that makes the waters seem lit by a million candles. The curling willows dipping their fingertips into the canals and the white-stone bridges like crescent moons. Canal-side restaurants waft occasional diners out into the Autumnal chill where they catch, like ghosts, in the criss-cross of narrow streets.

1. Re-think China, think Wuzhen. Cue the burble of a single oar propelling a wooden craft along a canal, its fey lamplight flickering through the black. It doesn’t get much more romantic than this.  Awww! Romance rating: 9/10