Guides to China’s small towns
北京、上海之外，中国还有数不清的县城和小镇。小城中国一站一站地走，把每座小城的吃、戏、诗和来历讲清楚：中英对照，资料有出处。
Beyond Beijing and Shanghai lie thousands of county towns and small cities. Small Town China visits them one at a time and explains each one properly — its food, theatre, poetry and past — in Chinese and English, with sources.
小城中国
图 / Photo: N509FZ · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons深度 In depth · 嵊州风味 Shengzhou food
街头那么多“杭州小笼包”，不少其实来自嵊州。老面发酵，顶上留一个“鲤鱼口”，和上海的汤包不是一回事。
Many of China’s “Hangzhou xiaolongbao” shops trace back to Shengzhou. Raised with an old-dough starter and left open at the top, these buns are not Shanghai’s soup dumplings.
越剧的故乡，小笼包的老家，唐诗之路上的一座小城。
The birthplace of Yue opera, the home of xiaolongbao, and a small city on the Tang Poetry Road.
更多小城，敬请期待。
More towns to come.
小笼包、炒年糕、炒榨面是嵊州小吃“三宝”。一百多种小吃，“嵊州小吃”的招牌开遍了全国。
Xiaolongbao, fried rice cakes and fried zhamian noodles are the “three treasures” of Shengzhou snacks — and Shengzhou snack shops are all over China.
1906 年春天，越剧在嵊州一个村子的祠堂前第一次登台。
In the spring of 1906, Yue opera took the stage for the first time — in front of a village hall in Shengzhou.
李白、杜甫都为剡溪写过诗；王羲之在这里度过晚年；“乘兴而来”的故事也发生在这条溪上。
Li Bai and Du Fu wrote about the Shan stream, Wang Xizhi spent his last years beside it, and a famous story about following a whim ends here.
千年古镇、越剧诞生的村子、书圣后人的故里——几个值得一去的地方。
A thousand-year-old town, the village where Yue opera began, and the home of the Sage of Calligraphy’s descendants.
领带、集成灶、龙井茶、竹编——这座小城做的东西，也许就在你身边。
Neckties, kitchen stoves, Longjing tea, woven bamboo — things made in this small city may be closer to you than you think.
从杭州东站坐高铁，最快半小时左右。
About half an hour from Hangzhou East by high-speed train.
国庆节第四天，雨水多。趁着节日的好辰光，四个老表兄弟姐妹结队，早上从嵊州出发，中午赶到了杭城，连忙去瞧一瞧不曾谋过面的小孙女。见面好，见面真，只是小宝贝睡着了，只好拉拉手，权当见过面了。
The fourth day of the National Day holiday, and plenty of rain. Making the most of the festive days, four of us cousins set off together from Shengzhou in the morning and reached Hangzhou by noon, hurrying to see a little granddaughter we had never met. It was good to see her, good to see her for real — only the little darling was fast asleep, so we just held her tiny hand and called it a meeting.
今日上午驱车到三界去，一路上歌声飞扬，一曲祝福祖国，单曲循环，听得心情澎湃。祝福祖国的词作者厉害，他通过与前辈后辈的探讨中，将“花朵、信念、果实、旗帜，道路”在旋律中次第铺展，又在议论中，达成一致共识，显示出祖国的情怀，还有唱不完的颂歌。接下来更需要下一代，代代不懈的努力与付出，才能维持繁荣强盛。
This morning I drove to Sanjie, and the singing soared the whole way: one song, “Bless the Motherland,” on repeat, and my heart surged as I listened. The lyricist is remarkable. Drawing on conversations between elders and the young, he lays out “flowers, faith, fruit, flags, the road” one after another across the melody, and through that dialogue arrives at a shared understanding — a deep love for the motherland, and songs of praise that could never all be sung. What comes next asks even more of the generations to follow: only through their unflagging effort and devotion, one generation after another, can that prosperity and strength endure.
.jpg){kind=link}