Schedule:
Day 1: Start from Yangzhou - China Grand Canal Museum - Yangzhou Opera Garden (Yangzhou Opera)
Day 2: Slender West Lake Scenic Area - Geyuan Garden - Yangzhou Dongguan History Culture Tourist Area
Day 3: Taizhou Old Street - Taizhou Wanghai Tower Scenic Spot - Mei Lanfang Theater - Return
China Grand Canal Museum
People may ride the sailboats on the canal and watch the splendor of the cities and arts along the canal. China Grand Canal Museum, like a huge ship traveling through 2,500 years of history, is quietly docked at the ancient canal’s bank at Sanwan. The museum, like an encyclopedia, shows comprehensively the history, culture, ecology as well as the scientific and technological landscape of the Grand Canal in the canal basin throughout history. Here, you can view the grand scenery created by the canal, explore the past and present of the canal, and experience the life on both sides of the canal.
Yangzhou Opera Garden
Yangzhou Opera Garden is expanded from Yangzhou Art School. Its exhibition area is located in the northwest corner of the garden, and is a training theater, which includes the opera museum. Yangzhou has a rich variety of operas, including puppet shows, storytelling, Qingqu, Recitative and many other genres. The museum presents Yangzhou's profound opera culture through various articles and audios. In addition, more 100 little theaters, frequent small-scale operas and cultural performances have become a highlight of Yangzhou's nightlife.
Slender West Lake Scenic Area
Slender West Lake has the reputation of "the best garden in the world". The green lake water connects the famous gardens and scenic spots such as Xu Yuan Garden, Xiaojinshan Island, Wuting Bridge, White Pagoda, Twenty-four Bridge, Wanhua Garden and the Double-Peak Cloud Inn. Especially the Twenty-four Bridge is a landmark among the famous attractions in Yangzhou. The Slender West Lake is also a popular spot for night tour in Yangzhou. The night tour route of "Boat + Walk" combines water tour, light show, ensemble of guqin and Chinese zither, guided tour, fishing of fish hawk and other fun, which make the tour dreamlike.
Geyuan Garden
The Garden is a private garden and residence of Yangzhou salt merchants in the Qing Dynasty, famous for its ubiquitous green bamboos and the rockery that features the four seasons. In less than 8 acres, bamboo shoot-like stones, lake stones, yellow stones, Yi stones are stacked into four rockery areas. The rockery of four seasons integrates the gardening techniques and landscape painting into one to express a unique poetic and pictorial beauty, and is praised as "the only case in China" by Mr. Chen Congzhou, a leading gardening authority.
Dongguan History Culture Tourist Area
Dongguan Street is a representative historical street in Yangzhou, stretching from the ancient canal to the east and Guoqing Road to the west, with a total length of 1,122 meters. It is a must-visit ancient street in Yangzhou and a photogenic attraction for social media. There are many monuments and cultural relics here, including Yi Pu Garden, Wang's Little Garden, Guangling Academy, Anding Academy, and the Zhunti Temple of the Ming Dynasty. In the evening, the featured night tour product of "Night Performance of Timeless Female Celebrities" at Fuyuan Garden is very popular, which presents the long history of Yangzhou culture through vocal music, dance, instrumental music and local operas.
Taizhou Old Street
Located on the bank of Taizhou's Dongcheng River, Taizhou Old Street is a 600-meter alley that serves as both a bustling commercial area and a home to Taizhou's intangible cultural heritages. You may meet craftsmen demonstrating their crafts on the spot, and you can also appreciate traditional crafts such as dough figurines, straw plaited articles, and diabolo in the Old Trades Exhibition Hall. Walking and stopping along the way, searching for the tasty snacks, enjoying the storytelling, listening to the ancient opera, you can relive the elegance and sentiment of the old time.
Taizhou Wanghai Tower Scenic Spot
Wanghai Tower is a famous scenic spot and a landmark in Taizhou, Jiangsu Province. It is situated in Taizhou’s Fengcheng River Scenic Area (AAAA level) and is known as the "Best Tower of Jianghuai". The main building of Wanghai Tower has the architectural style of Song Dynasty, which is simple and elegant. You can outlook the cityscape of Taizhou up in the Wanghai Tower.
Mei Lanfang Theater
The mellowness of Beijing dialect and the popularity of Mei Lanfang style can be found in the Mei Lanfang Grand Theater. The Theater is subordinate to Taizhou Huai Opera Troupe and has a large auditorium able to hold nearly 1,000 people, making it a landmark in Taizhou as well as a window for cultural and artistic activities and exchanges. The Mei Lanfang Art Festival also takes the Theater as a broad stage for opera and cultural exchanges.