Most visitors to China spend certain amount of time in Zhejiang Province, but that is usually in the city of Hangzhou – a beautiful place famous for both its natural scenery as well as tea plantations. If you want to get to a less travelled location after visiting Hangzhou, you could head to Fenghua located near Ningbo city (south of Hangzhou).
Fenghua is the hometown of Chiang Kai-Shek, a Chinese figure who has influenced China and Taiwan’s history to a large extent (Chiang Kai-Shek fled with Kuomintang troops to Taiwan in 1949)
Fenghua is famous for both natural scenery as well as great fruit, yellow-fin tuna (from the Eastern Sea), tea — yes there are tea plantations in the hills around the city.
The notable sites around Fenghua are Xikou Xuedou Hill (northwest of Ningbo city) together with the ancient town of Xikou (here you can find Chiang Kai-Shek’s house and the tomb of his mother — apparently a tunnel 668 meters long) Xuedou Temple located on Xuedou Hill, is one of the famous Buddhist temples in China. The temple (rebuilt in the late 1980s / early 1990s) has also a Sheng School (associated with Chan Buddhism).
Near by is also the Tingxia lake — a man-made lake on the Shanxi River (south of Xuedou Hill) – which offers some good opportunity for relaxing away from large crowds.
Overall a visit to Fenghua will give you the chance to see some old Chinese towns and architecture and step away from the rapid development in the big cities of China.
Very well written!