Hangzhou

Everyone's heard of the Olympic Games, but outside Asia, it's a safe bet few have heard of the Asian Games. Yet this huge multi-sport event, which like the Olympics takes place every four years, is as big or bigger as its better-known fellow in terms of number of sports and athletes. 

The 19th Asian Games were set to take place in Hangzhou, China, in October 2022; they were then postponed a year due to Covid-19, so were rescheduled for October 2023. I was asked by my Olympic friend and colleague Alan to be part of the team he was setting up to work as the Asian Games News Service - a team of experienced foreign journalists to produce news and quotes in the same way as we do for the Olympics. Of course I said yes. 

I wasn't sure what to expect from Hangzhou. Like many other Chinese cities it's huge (a population of around 12 million) and not somewhere I'd ever heard of. It's inland of Shanghai on the banks of the Qiantang River, which is tidal, and from a visitor perspective is best known for the West Lake - a lake surrounded on three sides by hills, and on the eastern side, by the city, which has featured in many a picture. Hangzhou is also the starting point for the Grand Canal which runs all the way north to Beijing.

Around the lake there are a few areas where the old buildings survive, or have been restored, but a lot of Hangzhou is ultra-modern high-rise. They've built a lot of new infrastructure for the Games, including new stadia and arenas as well as significantly expanding the metro system (the metro is great; fast, cheap, clean and cool). 

We spent three weeks in Hangzhou, staying at the purpose-built media village, and got a little time to explore amid the work. 

Early on, before the Games started, a group of us went on a full day tour to test out some of the cultural visits they were setting up for journalists. I think we basically got several shorter visits all stuck together. 

We started out on Hefang Street, which is one of the older streets, and today is full of touristy shops selling food and souvenirs. Along it we stopped at Hu Qing Yu Tang pharmacy, which is both a working pharmacy that celebrates its 150th anniversary next year, and a museum of Chinese medicine. It was interesting to see the range of natural products which go into Chinese medicine and the popularity of the pharmacy today. 

Next stop was the Deshou Palace - a palace of the Southern Song Dynasty (late 12th-early 13th century AD). It was destroyed by fire in 1206, but they have been uncovering its ruins for some time and now they've basically built a replica palace on top of those ruins, and turned the ruins into a museum with video and light installations to show you what it might have been like. It was all quite impressive.

Then we had lunch, a feast of 'Chinese medicine' food that is supposed to be good for you - like lotus root and eel. After that, it was on to the Grand Canal for a boat ride and then an explore of another old pedestrian area and the Gongchen Bridge, a notable stone bridge across the canal. They also took us around a handicrafts museum to see stuff like bamboo weaving and paper making. It was a good tour, although we were being filmed and photographed and occasionally interviewed all day for the official games social media (and other channels, possibly) which got a little exhausting. 

 

We were however disappointed not to have a boat ride on West Lake, which was originally part of the plan. I had a bit of free time later in the week, although it was raining, and managed to pop over there to grab some pictures of the lake. Then on opening ceremony day a few of us got on another tour to West Lake for a boat ride, after first visiting the West Lake Museum to find out about the history of the lake and see some of the artefacts they've dug up from it over the years - it's very shallow and full of mud, so ideal for preserving Stuff. (I think for some of the younger visitors to the museum a group of random Europeans were more interesting than the museum itself).

The boat ride was nice, it was good to see some of the islands in the lake, but I did want to walk more around the shores and when I had a rare morning off in the middle of the Games I took the chance to explore the hill on the northern side, which has lots of paths and temples and a great view of the lake and city from the top. Definitely worth it, although it was the national holiday and therefore fairly busy. 

On my last day in Hangzhou I ventured south of the lake area a bit to visit the China National Silk Museum, a large, superbly curated and FREE museum all about the history and manufacture of silk, the Silk Road, and fashion. It was excellent and thoroughly worthwhile. 

Away from the West Lake area Hangzhou has loads of malls and interesting architecture. There was a great lightshow on each evening along the riverbank by the curiously globe-shaped InterContinental Hotel, looking over towards the stadium and back over the city, which showed this off to great effect. And there is also a good night market with plenty of souvenirs and street food opportunities on Wulin Road.

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed Hangzhou, although with the caveat that a major sporting event always shows off a city to its best advantage. It is a vibrant, modern sort of place with lots of green and water. In late September-early October of our currently strange climate it was hot and humid and sometimes wet, but I basically lived in shorts and t-shirt the whole time. The metro makes it easy to get around and although foreigners are clearly a rarity we were welcomed warmly everywhere we went. It might not be an obvious tourist spot in China, but it's worth a look.