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Cixi is a county-level city of about 1.83 million people under Ningbo in Zhejiang, China, famous for the Yue celadon kilns of Shanglin Lake, the old town of Minghe and the southern landing of the Hangzhou Bay Bridge. It spreads along the south shore of Hangzhou Bay on land that has crept northward for centuries as dikes pushed back the sea, and today it ranks among China's richest counties, known for appliance makers and summer waxberries.
Its deeper story is told in clay. Around Shanglin Lake and the neighbouring Duhu and Baiyang lakes, kilns fired Yue celadon from the Eastern Han to the Southern Song, including the secret-colour ware once reserved for the court. Merchants born here, such as Yu Qiaqing in Shanghai and Wu Jintang in Kobe, sent fortunes home and left mansions, schools and tombs behind.
Most sights lie south of the city centre in the hills: Minghe Ancient Town, Wulei Mountain and Duhu Lake make an easy day together, while the wetland park and the bridge sit on the bay to the north. Ningbo is about an hour away by road.
Hangzhou Bay National Wetland Park in Cixi lies on the south shore of Hangzhou Bay, just west of the sea bridge: 43.5 sq km of saltwater wetland on the East Asian-Australasian flyway. Boardwalks, a floating forest and bird hides line the reedbeds. Bring binoculars for migrating shorebirds.
Shanglin Lake near Qiaotou town in Cixi is a leaf-shaped reservoir with about 20 km of winding shoreline among low wooded hills. Dammed in the 1950s, it is a calm place for lakeside walks and boat trips, and its quiet slopes hide the kilns that once made celadon for the Tang court.
Duhu Lake, southeast of Guanhaiwei, is the largest lake in Cixi, split by a dam finished in the 1970s into the inner Lidu reservoir and an outer lake, a design rarely seen in China. Sunset walks along the embankment are the classic outing, with Baiyang Lake and Minghe close by.
Wulei Mountain, rising above Minghe in Cixi, is a scenic area linking Wulei Temple, a lotus pond and the wooded Cangyun Stream valley with its small waterfalls. Look for the memorial stupa of the monk Narayana near the temple, then climb the trails for wide views over Duhu Lake and the plain.
The Shanglin Lake Yue Kiln Sites in Cixi form the largest, longest-running ancient kiln complex known in China, with nearly 200 kiln sites from the Eastern Han to the Southern Song. Digs at Housi'ao suggest it made the secret-colour ware found at Famen Temple. One excavated kiln is under a shelter.
Cixi Museum reopened in 2019 in a new building in the city's culture district and tells the story of Cixi through Yue celadon, land won from the sea and local lives. Treasures include a Northern Song celadon toad-shaped water dropper and a Southern Song gold coin, both top-grade national relics.
The Former Residence of Yu Qiaqing in Longshan, Cixi, is the mansion the Shanghai shipping magnate built in his home village between 1916 and 1929. Three Chinese-style halls lead to two Western-style rear blocks with Baroque gables and fireplaces. A museum since 2007, it is full of fine carving.
The Hangzhou Bay Bridge, opened in 2008, carries the expressway about 36 km from Cixi across Hangzhou Bay to Jiaxing in a long S-curve, and it was the world's longest sea-crossing bridge when built. Watch it fade into the haze from the south shore, or drive across to see its cable-stayed spans.
Minghe Ancient Town in Cixi is over 1,200 years old and named after Yu Jiugao, grandson of the calligrapher Yu Shinan. It grew rich on salt and later on the medicine trade, and stone bridges cross its canal past horse-head gabled mansions such as Xinwufang. Come early for the quietest lanes.
The Lidu Lake Yue Kiln Sites lie on the west shore of the inner Duhu reservoir in Cixi, where 15 kiln sites from the Tang to the late Northern Song dot low hills such as Lizishan. In the dry season, banks of celadon shards and kiln debris emerge. Please leave every fragment where it lies.
The Tomb of Wu Jintang sits by Baiyang Lake in Guanhaiwei, Cixi, where the farm boy who became a leading merchant in Kobe chose to be buried. The conical tomb bears an inscription by Zhang Jian, and his own couplet says he loved these lakes and hills, not feng shui. A memorial hall stands beside it.
The Former Residence of Wu Jintang in Dongshantou village, Guanhaiwei, Cixi, is a modest brick-and-timber courtyard house of about 360 sq m with a five-bay main hall and carved gate inscriptions. It recalls the merchant who paid to restore the local lakes and to found schools in his home district.
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