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.
深度 In depth嵊州甘霖镇的小黄山遗址，是九千年前的一个村落，属于以早期稻作闻名的上山文化。这里的陶罐留下了中国最早的红曲米酒痕迹之一；2024 年，它随上山文化遗址群列入《中国世界文化遗产预备名单》。
Nine thousand years ago, Xiaohuangshan in Shengzhou’s Ganlin Town was a village of the Shangshan culture, known for some of the world’s earliest rice farming. Its pots hold some of China’s earliest traces of red rice beer, and since 2024 it has been on China’s tentative list for World Heritage.
深度 In depth嵊州古称剡县。“剡”字拆开是两火一刀：唐代有人说它预示着避乱的福地，北宋方腊之乱后又被认为有“兵火象”，1121 年改名嵊县。1995 年，嵊县又改成了嵊州市。
Shengzhou was once Shan county. Split apart, the character 剡 is two fires and a knife. Tang writers read it as a sign of refuge; after Fang La’s revolt it looked like an omen of war, and in 1121 the county was renamed Sheng. In 1995 Sheng county became the city of Shengzhou.
深度 In depth王子猷雪夜坐船来访又转身回去的故事，发生在这条溪上；唐代几百位诗人沿着它寻山问水，溪边的古藤还造出过唐代最有名的纸。
The famous story of a man who boated all night through the snow to see a friend, then turned back at his gate, ends on this stream. Hundreds of Tang poets came up it after mountains and rivers, and the rattan on its banks made the Tang dynasty’s most famous paper.
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.
深度 In depth嵊州城西北的崇仁古镇，保存着从明初到民国的二百多处老建筑，其中老台门有 154 座，是全国重点文物保护单位和中国历史文化名镇。周末，玉山公祠的古戏台上还在唱越剧。
Northwest of Shengzhou, the old town of Chongren keeps more than two hundred historic buildings from the early Ming to the Republic, including 154 old courtyard houses. It is a major national heritage site and one of China’s historic towns — and on weekends, Yue opera is still sung on its old stage.
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.
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