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China's original heartland may have been the dusty Yellow River basin, but it was the greenness and fertility of the Yangzi River estuary that drew the Chinese south and provided them with the wealth and power needed to sustain a huge empire. The provinces of Jiangsu and Zhejiang , which today flank the metropolitan area of Shanghai to the north and south, have been playing a vital part in the cultural and economic development of China for the last two thousand years. No tour of eastern China would be complete without stopovers in some of their classic destinations. The story begins in the sixth century BC when the area was part of the state of Wu and had already developed its own distinct culture. The flat terrain, the large crop yield and the superb communications offered by coastal ports and navigable waterways enabled the principal towns of the area to develop quickly into important trading centres . These presented an irresistible target for the expanding Chinese empire under the Qin dynasty, and in 223 BC the region was annexed, immediately developing into one of the economic centres of the empire. After the end of the Han dynasty in the third century AD, several regimes established short-lived capitals in southern cities; however, the real boost for southern China came when the Sui (589-618 AD) extended the Grand Canal to link the Yangzi with the Yellow River and ultimately to allow trade to flow freely between here and the northern capitals. With this, China's centre of gravity took a decisive shift south. Under later dynasties, Hangzhou and then Nanjing became the greatest cities in China. Visiting the region, you find yourself in a world of water . The whole area is intensively drained, canalized, irrigated and farmed, and the rivers, canals and lakes which web the plain give it much of its character. The traditional way to travel here was by boat , and today ferries continue to ply the Yangzi, while the major sea ports - Shanghai, Ningbo, Wenzhou - are also linked by coastal passenger services. There are even still a few local services inland, such as those between Suzhou, Wuxi and Hangzhou, along the canals in among silk farms and tea plantations. The powerful commercial cities of the waterways have long acted as counterweights to the bureaucratic tendencies of Beijing. Both Hangzhou and Nanjing have served as the capital of China, the latter having been Sun Yatsen's capital during the brief years of the Chinese Republic after the overthrow of the Qing dynasty. Marco Polo called Hangzhou "the most beautiful and magnificent city in the world", and its Xi Hu (West Lake), still recognizable from classic scroll paintings, is deservedly rated as one of the most scenic spots in China. Suzhou and Yangzhou , too, should not be missed, for the bustle of life along the canals that crisscross their centres, and the peace of their famous gardens . These and other cities - Zhenjiang , Wuxi , Ningbo - have also developed as manufacturing centres, enjoying the boom which has put Jiangsu and Zhejiang to the forefront of economic development in China. Indeed, southern Jiangsu's per capita income is the highest in China outside Shanghai, southern Guangdong and Hong Kong. The downside to relative prosperity in China is chronic over-population. Well over 120 million people live in Jiangsu, Shanghai and Zhejiang and it can seem when crossing the area by train that it has been built over from end to end. You will be hard-pressed to find much that might be classed as countryside here, with the exceptions of the area around the charming Shaoxing , and, above all, the sacred Buddhist island of Putuo Shan , which has superb beaches and monasteries set deep in wooded hillsides. For visitors, perhaps the most important point is that most foreign tourists who come here are on expensive package tours, and there are few facilities, such as foreigners' dormitories, for independent travellers. Accommodation is almost uniformly on the expensive side, with the cheapest hotels rarely dipping below Y200 for a double room - often university accommodation is the only budget possibility. As for the best season to visit, you should note that the area around the Yangzi, despite being low-lying and far from the northern plains, is unpleasantly cold and damp in winter, and unbearably hot and sticky during the summer months when most people choose to visit - Nanjing's age-old reputation as one of the "three furnaces" of China is well-justified. If possible, you should try to visit during the spring, from mid-April to late May. Although short (many residents claim if you blink, you'll miss it), the season's rainshowers, sunshine and low humidity give the terrain a splash of green as well as put reassuring smiles on the faces of residents emerging from the harsh winter.
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