Nanxi River is located in Yongjia County in the north of Wenzhou City,
Zhejiang Province. It is 26 km away to the city proper of Wenzhou. Covering an area of 625 square meters, Nanxi River inevitably becomes the cradle of classic Chinese water-and-ink painting. This river is famous for its mountain backdrop, shores lined with ancient houses, crystal clear water and strange rocks. There are more than 800 scenic spots scattered in its seven major tourist areas, including the Nanxi River, Yantou, Shiweiyan, Shuiyan, and Sihai Hill.
If you have a chance to travel to this place, the greatest thing you can not miss is drifting in the river. By drifting down the Nanxi River on a bamboo craft, you can enjoy views of locals doing laundry along the river, fishermen employing traditional methods of using cormorants to catch fish and the beautiful shadow of mountains along the river. If you are lucky enough, you will have a chance to see the xiangyu fish. The xiangyu is a rare freshwater fish unique to the Nanxi. There are nine established drifting routes on the river for you to choose from, ranging from one to 10 kilometers in length. Visitors could have a wonderful time traveling along the river. One can catch a raft and sat on the bow, bathing in the pleasant drizzle.
Features
Nanxi River combines natural scenery with cultural landscape in one whole. It is famous for water, hills, odd rocks, waterfall, many ancient villages, and forest on the beach beauty. It is the only national scenic rural landscape that features with Pastoral scenery landscape in China. Flowing eastward for 36 kilometers, Nanxi River contains 36 bends and 72 shoals.
Clear water is an evident for Nanxi River. The water here is crystal clear. The water flows all year around with no drain. Drifting in the Nanxi River is the hottest activity. People sit on a bamboo catamaran which drifts rapidly with the current. From the raft, views of the ancient village, remote foggy mountains and locals washing along the river can be seen.
There are quite a lot of small waterfalls along the river, for there are green peaks towering along the river or on the banks of the river, which vary in shape. If you are lucky enough, you will have a chance to see rainbow aside the waterfall, which is form by the reflection of the sunlight from water.
Ancient villages are another feature along the river. They refer the ancient villages in the downstream of Nanxi River, which have kept relatively intact historic features and many of the traditional cultural heritages. The most famous ones are undoubtedly Yantou, Cangpo, Furong, Pengxi four villages. The villages have kept a relatively complete historical style and many traditional cultural relics of the old dynasties. Staning on the top of the hills nearby, visitors can have a full view of the towns and a distant view of the river. At the source of Nanxi River, Linkeng Village features the age-old houses of the Miao and Dong ethnic groups.
How to get there
Visitors can take a train or flight from
Beijing or
Shanghai to the city of Wenzhou. Then take No.33 bus form the Wenzhou City Railway Station to the Anlanting Ferry. Take a boat across the river to Oubei Town. There are minibuses to each scenic spot of Nanxi River Scenic Area.