Six wow-worthy travelling points around Asian Games host Hangzhou
Hangzhou (Zhejiang): The eastern Chinese city of Hangzhou has been making sporting headlines in Asia because it is hosting the biggest ever Asian games with 12000 players from 45 countries. It is in the global headlines because the opening ceremony of 23 September gave the perfect template of a futuristic green opening for a similar mega sporting jamboree, both global and continental.
On 16 September 2015, Hangzhou won its bid to host the second-largest sporting event after the Olympics. However, it is not the first city to host similar events as the capital city Beijing (1990) and southern Chinese city Guangzhou (2010) had similar opportunities. Both editions were not much talked about like Hangzhou as this edition displayed exceptional examples of G5 and AI-supported openings with roots in Chinese culture and nature.
This matter doesn’t talk on sporting fronts. This talks of six wow-worthy traveling points around the vicinities of the sporting jamboree of the biggest continent of the world.
1. The Grand Canal
The world knows China mainly for the Great Wall. The wall was made mainly for protecting the ruling elite and their palace complexes. Nonetheless, The Grand Canal is the example of China’s great project of all time. It was a project for commoners. This 1700 plus kilometer long and 2500-year-old canal is UNESCO-listed World Heritage Site since 2014. The Grand Canal starts from Beijing and ends at Hangzhou. Therefore, it is the perfect place to visit during the sidelines of the Asian Games.
The added attraction of The Grand Canal could be the Wuzhen. Wuzhen is known as the ‘China’s best preserved water town’ and has been ‘quenched by The Grand Canal.’ Host of the some noted global events like World Internet Conference and Wuzhen Theatre Festival, among others, the 1300-year-old water town is a go-to venue with for post-match leisure in the Asian Games.
Other two must-visit venues around The Grand Canal are Tangqi Ancient Town and Qiaoxi Historical and Cultural Block.
2.West Lake
Hangzhou has another UNESCO-listed venue to visit, it is West Lake. While listed in the UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2011, it was described as ‘an exceptional testimony to the cultural tradition of improving landscape.’ West Lake, together with West Lake Museum, is perfect for many reasons. If you love birding, you will glance some 50 species of birds. If you are poet you will develop poetic urge for new poem. If you are photographer or model, you will get lots of picture-perfect corners for your cute clicks. For boating-lovers, it is an added attraction.
3.Nanhu Revolutionary Museum
There are dozens of museum around Hangzhou in the Zhejiang province of China. The best museum from China’s political point of view is Nanhu Revolutionary Museum. The museum is one of the top-visiting venue of China’s Red Tourism as it was where the Communist Party of China (CPC) was established in 1921. The symbolic red boat and the historic meeting of the CPC is artistically presented with real-looking scene in the museum with lots of other revolutionary facts and figures of ‘Old China’ and ‘New China’. The instrumental lady named Wang Huiwu, wife of the CPC leader Li Da, is said to have arranged the first successful historic meeting of the CPC. You may like People’s Republic of China (PRC) or dislike it, but you can’t ignore the revolutionary history of PRC. For this, this museum is the must-go venue. Beautiful boat cruise is an added attraction of this surrounding.
4.G-20 Venue
Recently, New Delhi got new global diplomatic profile as the host city of G-20. This was the first-of-its-kind event not only for India but also for the whole of South Asia. Interestingly, the 19th Asian Games host city Hangzhou was already crowned the G-20 host title in 2016. From September 4 to 5, Hangzhou International Expo Center was the prime venue for the global diplomatic event of the world’s twenty wealthiest economic entities. This can be a good selfie background for Asian Games attendees in Hangzhou.
5.Xiaogucheng Village
Decorated with the green-carpeted tea garden against the backdrop of hills, the Xiaogucheng village has every natural magnet to be a perfect village. If you glace from the modernity point of view, the village has almost everything you look after like local vegetables are sold with QR payment, locals live-stream their products to reach out to thousands of netizens and every household has its own private car. Owing to such blend of rural and urban amenities, this village is crowned with some of the prestigious village-focused titles of China like National Model Village for Rural Governance and National Ecological Village. If you visit this village, you will find ways to make best possible village of your own.
6.Alibaba and Geely
China’s traveling doesn’t necessarily mean to visit places of nature, culture and adventure. Industrial and business magnets are its equally important destinations. For this, Hangzhou is best for many global companies and their outlets. Two such examples would be Alibaba, the China’s online shopping giant, and Geely Automobiles, China’s global leader of green vehicles. Hangzhou is the hometown of Jack Ma, the founder of Alibaba and Alibaba is headquartered here.
Alibaba and Geely both are partners of 19th Asian Games. Their active presence made the games futuristic and green-driven. Visiting these venues gives picture of changing online shopping and green rides.
