Blog Archives
Social Media in Hangzhou: Sharing, Connecting and Caring
Nowadays many young people could not be used to the live without social media. Social media is very popular among Chinese youth, as the Facebook and Twitter is technically blocked by the government in China, the Chinese version of them, Renren and Weibo has become the most popular social media websites.
Hangzhou is an ancient city with old tales and cultural relics but also a city full of young spirit. The social media has become a communicational tool for friends, once publish a piece of information, it could be seen and commented by others. Also on the Weibo and Renren, one can chat invisibly with another friend, which protects their privacy.
When I don’t know a restaurant or a place for fun in Hangzhou is good not, I won’t search on the Google, instead, I will search them on the microblogs “Weibo.com” and the results are very fresh and suitable for me. For example if I search a restaurant called Adana Giardino in a small hill inside the West Lake. Actually I have been there before and the Italian food there was good and fit with Chinese tastes. I search this restaurant on Weibo and find the comments on the restaurants are very objective, most comments spoke highly of it: “I think Adana Giardinois the best one in Hangzhou, not one of the best, the music, peaceful environment are so fantastic!” “They give full weight and my stomach is so full for the first time!” Thus I would rather trust the comments on microblogs rather than some commercial website because the tweets are experiences of netizens and more direct viewing.
image from: Yeke.cn
With microblogs, I could know what happened to my friends and my home city. Last week a stormy snow attack the city, but the people there are happier than worried about it because the snow is rare to be seen in the South like Hangzhou. On the contrary to Kent, where the snow is frequent and often annoying, the netizens were so excited and in hurry to put pictures taken during the snow and shared them on microblogs, everyone was hoping the snow could melt slowly. My friends also told me on Weibo that they have never seen such a big snow before.
image from: Weibo.com
Sometimes microblogs are more efficient than news organizations to publish the news. In early February 2012, a tweet attracts many people. It described an 85 year-old man, was expelled by his son’s wife. Then he went to Hangzhou to find his old friend for help, however, his friend has passed away several years ago. He had no way and ran the streets for 4 days until spotted by a netizen, who reveal the news to microblogs. Later the journalists revealed the news on newspapers and the old tramp received help from many local citizens. Finally he was sent back to his hometown and stay with his grandson in An’hui Province. If not for the tweets, the old man could not receive help so quickly; microblog really saved a lot of disadvantaged people in the city.
image from: Weibo.com
Don’t worry that you have difficulty using the social media because the free Wi-Fi is ready for you! The government of Hangzhou has already known the importance of social media and the free Wi-Fi hot points have been available in every corner of the street in Hangzhou. Free high-speed Wi-Fi is open to you whenever you stuck in the traffic jam and feel boring, just take out you phone and tweet something on microblogs!
The Thousand-island Lake
The Thousand-island Lake (different from the Thousand Island Lake in North America)
Hangzhou is famous for the West Lake in the city which not only has beautiful sceneries but also cultural heritages with long history. However, do you know another much larger lake located about 180 kilometers in the southwest of Hangzhou city? It is called Thousand island Lake which has 1078 islands.
The Thousand-island Lake is in Chun’an county, Hangzhou. Actually, it is not a natural lake, the lake is formed by a dam built in the 1950s which led to the high water level in this areas. The old city of Chun’an county was then buried in the deep water and all the people in the lake areas immigrated to other counties. One of my best friends’ grandparents was migrated to my hometown from the old city buried under the Thousand-island Lake.
On the contrary to West Lake which is famous for its cultural sceneries and the natural beauties around the lakes, the Thousand-island Lake is famous for its large beautiful and clean water area with over one thousand islands in different sizes. Each island has its own special characteristics. The biggest island is larger than a town and the smallest islands could be smaller than a parking plot.
images from: qiandaohutrip.cn and Sina.com.cn
Clean Water
The water in the lake is quite clean. One of the most popular pure water brand Nongfu Spring Water comes from the lake. Also the Cheerday Beer with great reputation in South China is produced in the factory inside the lake areas. Both of them advertise the products with these words: “the product is made up from spring water of Thousand-island Lake”. It could be seen how confident the manufacturers and consumers are about the quality of water in the lake.
To maintain the water from pollution, the local government launched a plan in the beginning of 2012 with annual costs about 80 million US dollars, 60 percent of which is donated by the Beijing central government. This reflected how local and central government treasured the lake.
images from: laoren.com and bossline.com
Islands
There are so many islands in the lake that you are not able to visit them all. Even for me, a young man who always visit the Thousand-island Lake, have only visited some of the islands that has been well exploited.
The tourists from other cities or provinces always follow the local tour guides, going to the major islands on the tour lists such as Snack Island, Deer Island, Monkey Island and Ostrich Island. The islands are attractive to tourists, and the animals on the islands are very interesting. It is just like a big animal kingdom but each kind of animals is kept on different islands. The whole tour to all the animal islands could be over three hours, and much of time is spent on the boats.
images from: 1000d.cn
Fish
Though many tourists speak highly of the beauty of lake and islands but I still think the most valuable thing in Thousand-island Lake is its delicious fish!
I grow up in a south province of China where everyone favors dish of fish and I have tasted different kinds of fish in my life time. However, when I first came to Thousand-island Lakes several years ago, the fish that local people served in dinner time is so wonderful that I could never forget. That is why I have been to the lake so many times, sometimes just for tasting the fish with my friends.
The fish dish that local people makes only have two main characters: spicy and delicious. Walking on the street of Thousand-island Lake city, the center city of the county, you can enter every small restaurants and the fish dish it serves will never disappoint you.
Another reason the fish dish of the lake is so delicious is that the quality of fish is very high. The fish is living in the clean water and have enough nutrition they need and they are not cultivated in a small pool which limit their activity.
Once upon a time, a friend of my parents in Thousand-island Lake gave us some good species of fish which tastes very good. However, when we drive home, the fish have already died inside the water tank in car! My dad said: “What a pity is that! But even if they survived, they could not survive for a long time. Because the quality of water from the water pipe could not compete with the one of Thousand-island Lake, they won’t live long in such kind of water.”
images from: nipic.com, cztv.com, blog.163.com and lvmama.com
Come to see the islands and have a great fish meal! They are waiting for you in the Thousand-island Lake!
Hangzhou Food
Hangzhou food is one of the most fashionable cuisines in South China and is one of the eight famous Chinese cuisines. Hangzhou cuisine is well-known for its refreshing taste, elaborating preparation and sophisticated cooking and is appealing to the eye. Also it emphasizes on nutrition and the great poet Su Dongpo in Sung Dynasty had praised Hangzhou food as “the best food under heaven that no other could compare with it”.
There are some famous dishes like “Dongpo’s Pork” and “West Lake Fish in Sweet and Sour Sauce”, which are the representative dishes. Here are some of the dishes I picked out which arefavored by many young people.
The way of cooking was invented by Su Dongpo when he served the governor of Hangzhou in Sung Dynasty. It is in bright red color and delicate in taste. It is soft and served in thick soup but is not smashed.
Video Link to Dongpo’s Pork
This famous dish is developed in Sung Dynasty. Ingredients are chosen and prepared for the dish and when the dish comes out, it is in yellow color and tender tastes. Just like tasting crab broth and then it is also called “Surssine Crab Broth”.
West Lake Fish in Sweet Sour Sauce
This dish requires a live grass carp from the West Lake and after starved for two days the grass carp are highly nutritional for cooking. Sugar and vinegar sauce is poured over the fish after boiling for three minutes. When cooking finished it tasts fresh, sweet and sour and also it has a taste of crab and is tender.
It is wrapped up in lotus leaves with special materials and layer mud. After roasted on small fire and mud layer cracked, the dish finished and it could be very delicious when opened up. It has nice aroma and white meat with tender taste.
Video Link to Beggars Chicken
Snack Street
This is the most famous snack street in Hangzhou and it is Located at the food of Wushan Mountain, which is the old district of the city. In this snack street you can find a bunch of snacks and special food, most of them are very delicious and have attractive aroma. Top snacks are Scholar’s Cake, black Sesame Paste, Eight-treasure Porridge and Lotus Root Starch. Every kind of food here is very cheap and most of them are under 10 Yuan (about 1.5 US dollar). Many young people like to taste as many kinds of snacks as possible from the head to the end of the street, thus they are satisfied and could fully fill their hungry stomach with food.
Here is a video of Hefang Snack Street:
Many restaurants gather around this area where cuisines from all parts of China, from the North to the South and from the East to the West of China, every species could be tasted here. All the restaurants are built on both sides of the Great Canal and the buildings are in ancient Chinese architectural style. This is a new food street where many local citizens like to have dinner with friends or relatives. It is very beautiful in the evening when many people stroll around the river and do exercises and you can feel the peace of the city there.
Famous local food restaurants:
Louwalou Restaurant
Address: 30 Gushan Road
Feature: Hangzhou dishes, Beggar’s Chicken and Shelled Shrimps with Dragon Well Green Tea
Flavor Savoring Tower
Address: 83 Renhe Road
Feature: Hangzhou dishes, Crab Brewed in Orange Juice, Codfish in Chicken Sauce and Wulin Boiled Duck
Tianxianglou
Address: 447 Yan’an Road
Feature: Hangzhou dishes, Fragrant Mandarin Fish, Dongpo Pork, Fragrant and Soft Duck
Huiqingyutang Dietotherapy Restaurant
Address: 95 Dajing Lane
Feature: Dietotherapy
Zhuangyuan Guan
Address: 85 Qinghefang History Street
Feature: Wu Hill Duck Tongue, Ning Style Eel Thread
Wang Runxing
Address: 71 Zhongshan Road
Feature: Hangzhou dishes, Fish-head with Bean Curd, Rotus Roots and Salty Meat
Foreign Restaurants:
If you want to taste other foreign dishes, there are some options for you: Italian, Japanese, Korean, Mexican etc. You could find many foreign restaurants in Hangzhou with good service and tastes.
Here is the link to foreign restaurants
Bring you friends and start tasting the fantastic cuisine. Enjoy you meals around West Lake!
Hangzhou: A Paradise in South China 