湖州市

Why this place

Huzhou sits on Lake Tai's southern edge and has been the centre of Chinese writing brushes for two thousand years — Huzhou brushes are still considered the best. The bamboo mountains behind the city provided the raw material for both brushes and paper.

What to see

• The Huzhou brush workshops and the brush museum, an unusual but genuinely interesting stop
• Moganshan, the bamboo mountain where the elites of old Shanghai built their summer villas
• Nanxun ancient town — a canal town with some of the finest merchant mansions in China

What to eat

• Taihu lake fish, prawns and hairy crab
• Moganshan bamboo shoots, in season in spring

Best time

March–May and October–November