Yangzhou is already beautiful—until you visit Gaoyou, the town immortalized by Wang Zengqi

Why Gaoyou?

This Jianghuai town, "marinated to perfection" in Wang Zengqi's prose, boasts the 7,000-year-old Longqiuzhuang ruins but made its name with oily double-yolk salted duck eggs! Here, the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal embraces Gaoyou Lake, creating the "Canal-on-Lake" wonder. The poetry stele of Qin Guan still stands fresh at Wenyou Terrace, while the Tang Dynasty bricks of Zhenguo Temple Pagoda have witnessed millennia of fishing lights—holding the scalding "Wang-style tofu" in one hand and the crimson sun of salted duck eggs in the other, this town slow-drips to the rhythm of lapping water, curing itself into amber light.

One Town, One Lake, One Relay Station

📍 Old Town Time Capsule (Walking + Tricycle from ¥5)

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Wang Zengqi Memorial Hall
🕒 9:00-17:00 | 🎫 Free (Closed Mondays)
📖 Light-shadow corridors recreate scenes from *The Love Story of a Monk*; rooftop views of old-town rooftops like steamer cloth

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Ancient Wenyou Terrace
🕒 8:30-17:00 | 🎫 ¥30
🖋️ Where Su Dongpo and Qin Guan drank together; climb to watch canal barges move like toy blocks

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Yucheng Relay Station (China's last surviving Ming Dynasty courier station)
🕒 8:30-17:30 | 🎫 ¥25
📜 Feed horses at the Stone Trough of Horse God Temple; admire the 8-meter lacquer engraving *Rhymes of the Courier Road* in Huanghua Hall

🌅 Lake & Canal Symphony

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Zhenguo Temple Pagoda
🕒 Open all day | 🎫 Free
📸 Tang Dynasty square pagoda on a lake island; sunset splits golden-red waves with its shadow

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Gaoyou Lake Wild Beach (📍 Mapeng East Lake)
🚗 ¥15 taxi from downtown | 🎫 Free
🌾 June turns reed marshes into green mazes; rent a boat to hunt duck eggs (¥20/person)

🎑 Hidden Gems

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Longqiuzhuang Ruins
🕒 9:00-16:30 | 🎫 ¥35
🦴 See 4,000-year-old carbonized rice; pottery markings may predate oracle bones by a millennium

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Jieshou Reed Marsh Railway
📍 Jieshou Town riverbank | 🚂 Abandoned coal line
🌄 Sunset gilds the sleepers; snap *Kikujiro's Summer*-style photos

Wang's Culinary Decoder

🌞 Gaoyou Slow Morning

👉 Yangchun noodles + Pu-pork: Jiao’s Alley Noodles (explosive lard aroma, thinly sliced grass-smoked meat)

👉 Crab roast pork buns: Beihai Teahouse (steam-basket reveals crab oil soaking the folds)

👉 Pepper Wang-style tofu: Wang Sisters (duck blood + tofu + liver in thick sauce, topped with fresh-ground white pepper)

🦆 Salted Egg Kingdom

❗ Trust *Red Sun* brand: South Gate Egg Shop (vacuum-packed, yolks creamy like cheese)

🍳 Ultimate runny-yolk hack: Bury egg in congee | Wrap in sticky rice and fry

🥚 Dark Easter eggs: Drunken eggs (rice wine-soaked) | Salted yolk stir-fried stinky tofu

🌿 Lake Delicacies

▪ Eel noodles: Zhou’s (wild eel, milky broth)

▪ Snowflake tofu soup: Old Fuchun (crucian carp base, tofu shredded 30,000 times!)

▪ Water chestnut shoots: West Lake boat cuisine (tender stems with river shrimp, June-only)

⏱ Classic Speedrun Route

Yucheng Relay Station at dawn → Wang Zengqi Memorial → Wenyou Terrace noon views → Zhenguo Pagoda sunset → West Dike beer-and-duck feast

Local Pro Tips

⚠️ Traps to avoid:

- Don’t buy salted eggs at tourist spots! Stick to *Red Sun* or *Sanhu* brands (authentic at South Gate Street shops)
- Zhenguo Pagoda climbs only on 1st/15th lunar days, but lakeside paths always open

🚲 Transport hacks:

- Rent e-scooters (¥2/20min) to hunt Wang’s famed "Eight-Thousand-Year" oven cakes in alleys
- For "Gaoyou Lake sunset," navigate to 📍 Guoji Reed Marsh—wear rain boots!

🥄 Secret rituals:

❗ Pair Wang tofu with Gaoyou white liquor | Crush yolk into lard rice

❗ West Dike stalls code: "Half duck with giblets, extra gravy!"

🔑 Ultimate truth: Live like Wang’s badger—
Dawn at the canal waiting for diving ducks, noon counting moss in Yucheng’s ancient bricks, dusk crouching at Zhenguo Pier with a salted egg.
Watch the pagoda pierce the yolk-like sun, spilling oily gold into the canal, till the whole town becomes a glowing eggshell.