We’re in Majin Village (马金镇) in Zhejiang, a day before the Chinese New Year starts. Everyone’s busy doing some final shopping or getting a haircut before the festival — and the weather reaching 22 °C in February helps bring people outside. Meat, spices, offerings, flowers, yoghurt, cookies, barbeque, trinkets, posters, vegetables, soap, new shoes — […]

It’s a foggy morning in Xixinan Village 西溪南村, a village near Huangshan. I’m tired of sleepless nights with a 5-month old baby, but I equally want to take this opportunity to take some photos, so I’m outside the door at 06:30. Watertowns like this are usually crowded during the day, but deserted this early. Xinanxi […]

After Zaotai Village, we’re driving around the Huangshan (黄山) area, which is surrounded by dozens of historical towns, and we’re trying to pick the least touristified ones. Today we’re in Yuliang (渔梁村), a village dating back to the Sui Dynasty (1500 years ago). What was a mere settlement started to become really wealthy around 600 […]

The road becomes too small for cars to drive on, so we park, pack our bags, and continue on foot. Two donkeys are waiting where the path starts, and they — like us, are going to the abandoned village of Zaotai (皂汰村). We departed in the morning from our hostel in Sanyang (三阳镇), a village […]