Why Huzhou is the Next Culture City of East Asia (Part 1)

On September 12, 2024, the 15th China-Japan-Korea Ministerial Conference on Culture was held in Kyoto, Japan. At the conference, commemorative plaques for the 2025 "Culture City of East Asia" were awarded to China's Macao Special Administrative Region and Huzhou City in Zhejiang Province, Kamakura City in Japan, and Anseong City in South Korea. Huzhou became the 17th city in China to be named a "Culture City of East Asia." There are many cities in China named after lakes, such as Wuhu, a prefecture-level city in Anhui Province; Chaohu, which has been incorporated into Hefei in the same province; Honghu in Jingzhou, Hubei Province; and Hulunbuir in Inner Mongolia, named after two lakes. However, there is one city that is simply and purely named after a "lake." What's even more incredible is that the lake this city is named after doesn't actually belong to it. It's like the "borrowed scenery" in Chinese garden art: you can see the lake, but it doesn't belong to you. This city is called Huzhou, and the lake it is famous for is called Taihu Lake. Taihu Lake is the third largest freshwater lake in China and the most culturally significant and well-developed for tourism among the five major freshwater lakes. In Wuxi, there is a cliff carving at Yuantouzhu, known as the "First Scenic Spot of Taihu Lake," with the words "Encompassing Wu and Yue" inscribed by Liao Lun, a Qing Dynasty scholar who served as the local magistrate of Wuxi. This inscription highlights the historical and cultural significance of Taihu Lake in the Jiangsu and Zhejiang regions. Today, the shores of Taihu Lake are home to four cities: Huzhou in Zhejiang, and Suzhou, Wuxi, and Changzhou in Jiangsu. Although Huzhou is closer to Taihu Lake, most of the lake's surface is divided among the three cities of Suzhou, Wuxi, and Changzhou, leaving Huzhou with only a 50-meter-wide shoreline. The earliest administrative division named "Huzhou" can be traced back to the Sui Dynasty, and for over a thousand years, the names Wuxing and Huzhou alternated. Huzhou was named after its proximity to Taihu Lake and flourished because of it. As the birthplace of cultural treasures such as the "king of brushes" Huzhou brush, the "Rongji Huzhou silk" that won gold and silver awards at the World Industrial Exposition, and the tea culture led by the tea sage Lu Yu, Huzhou became a leader in the development of Jiangnan for over a thousand years. The Huzhou merchants, represented by silk merchants, rose to prominence in the late Qing Dynasty, participating in the development of Shanghai and profoundly influencing modern China's economy. Huzhou lost jurisdiction over the surface of Taihu Lake in the early days of liberation, with various explanations such as the suppression of bandits in Taihu Lake and the exchange of land between Jiangsu and Zhejiang. Whatever the reason, it is now a thing of the past. The people of Huzhou did not "sigh at the lake," but instead embraced the sentiment of "having traveled all over the beautiful land of Jiangnan, one should only live in Huzhou." Among the many cities in Jiangnan, Huzhou may not be the most famous or economically advanced, but it remains one of the most livable cities and a popular tourist destination in southern Jiangsu and northern Zhejiang. Its top tourist attractions include Nanxun Ancient Town, Mogan Mountain, and Anji Bamboo Sea, located in its two districts and three counties.