Dragon's Well Green Tea and Running Tiger Spring

China is the country of tea and Hangzhou is the birthplace of tea. The West Lake Dragon's Well green tea, with a history of more than 1,200 years and ranked at the top of the major 10 famous teas in China, is the very best of teas, once used as a tribute for emperors. The Dragon's Well green tea is rare for its pretty color, sweet scent, mellow taste and nice shape. Such a famous tea should be accompanied by good water, hence the saying that "Dragon's Well green tea goes with the Running Tiger water", meaning that the Dragon's Well green tea should be brewed with the water from the famous Running Tiger Spring at the West Lake. Thus, the tea and the water are regarded as the Two Excellencies of the West Lake.

Wedding Ceremonies of the "Nine Surname
Fishers on the xin'an River"

There once lived on Xin'an River fisher folks with nine family names, Chen, Qian, Lin, Yuan, Sun, Ye, Xu, Liand He.
Tradition has it that the ancestors of these nine sumame fisherfolks once followed Chen Youliang to fight Zhu Yuanzhang for the ruling power over the country. With the defeat of Chen, Zhu Yuanzhang, the founder of Ming Dynasty demoted the folks as "untouchable fisher folks" and drove them to the river, with a decree forbidding them from taking residences other than their boats, participating in local and imperial examinations, and intermarrying with people living on land. They have thus lived in such a unique way since then, with the water borne wedding ceremony being one typical aspect of their life styles.

Arts and Crafts in Hangzhou

Reputed as the "Silk County" in its long history, Hangzhou has various traditional arts and crafts, including the Hangzhou silk, Dujinsheng brocade, West Lake Silk umbrella, Wangxing fan, Zhang Xiaoquan scissors, Xianshan laceworks, and products of official porcelain kiln in imitation of that in the Southern Song Dynasty.

Famous Traditional Dishes in Hangzhou

Hangzhou has been called a "land flowing with milk and honey", and has a long history of food culture. The Zhejiang cuisine with its center at Hangzhou is one of the 8 major cuisine in China, famous for its fine cooking, nice color, sweet scent and taste and appealing appearance. The master poet Su Dongpo of the Song dynasty once wrote in praise that "there are no better banquets in the world than those in Hangzhou." Among those famous dishes of Hangzhou
Which are not only delicious but also accompanied with many touching stories, there are Dongpo Meat, West Lake Fish in Vinegar Sauce, Dragon's Well Shrimp Meat, Zhonghua Spring Chicken, Aunt Song's Thick Soup of Fish, Ham Stewed with Honey, West Lake Soup of Water Shield, and so forth.

Acrobatic Performance

While enjoying the daytime at the West Lake, visitors will find the night of the West Lake equally beautiful. They can appreciate various stunts of acrobatics and performances of songs and dances with South China features.