8am
The last day in Ningbo begins with an envigorating cycling tour around scenic Dongqian Lake. Covering an area of 20 square kilometers on the city's east side, it's three times the size of West Lake.
Taogong Islet on the lake's west bank is said to be where the legendary leader Fan Li (536-448 BC) lived a reclusive life with his lover Xishi, one of the four great beauties of ancient China. Fan is celebrated in Ningbo for his efforts during the Spring and Autumn Period (770-476 BC) and Warring States Period (476-221 BC) to promote trade and commerce, a harbinger of the city's prosperity and fame of Ningbo businessmen.
Little Putuo on the east bank is a popular Buddhist attraction built in the Southern Song Dynasty (1127-1279) by local leader Shi Hao. Shi's mother was a dedicated Buddhist who regularly visited the Buddha in Putuo Mountain, in today's Zhoushan City, Zhejiang Province. To save his blind, aged mother the trouble, Shi built Little Putuo in his home town. The temple still attracts believers.
The adjacent park, which displays a series of stone carvings of the Southern Song Dynasty, is worth a visit. Discovered mostly in the tombs of the Shi family, the delicate and vivid art shows the skills of craftsmen and the aesthetics of the time.
A vast reed marshland stretching along the river bank in nearby Mashan Village is a habitat for egrets.
Further to the east is Fuquan Mountain, the highest spot in the Dongqian Lake area. Climbing atop the mountain and looking west provides a fantastic panoramic view of Dongqian Lake, especially during sunrise and sunset. It is also a favorite haunt for stargazers - it was picked as an astronomical observation spot by the Ningbo Amateur Astronomers Association.
Bike rental stalls are scattered around the lake, so you can get a bicycle and start the tour wherever you want.
Or you can set out from the tourist center (cost is 50 yuan per day) near the Dongqian Lake resort area and cycle around the lake.
12am
Nothing beats a hearty meal after an active morning. Zou Ma Lou Restaurant is an ideal choice for its delicate design, tranquil ambience and being close to our next stop - Cicheng ancient town. The restaurant, next to Cihu Lake Park in the old town, is in the renovated former residence of a well-known local banker.
Built as a typical zoumalou - a traditional dwelling in southern China built with corridors facing a central outdoor space that are spacious enough for riding a horse. The residence is the best-protected architecture of its kind
Preserving many original details, the restaurant uses steel, wood and glass elements to divide different dining areas. A glass-ceiling pavilion winds through a garden thriving with bamboo, leading to the main dining area. Modern décor harmoniously blends with ancient construction, pleasing both eye and mind.
Zou Ma Lou serves traditional Ningbo cuisine with a modern twist, including fresh river food such as shrimp, crab, reeves shad and spiral shells as well as Cicheng specialty niangao (sticky rice cakes). Its homemade soybean sauce and a dessert of walnut stewed with distillers' grains are among the top picks. (117 Minquan Rd, Cicheng ancient town)
2pm
It's time to explore the prominent old town in Ningbo's Jiangbei District. First established in the Tang Dynasty, Cicheng has been a prosperous gateway along the Yangtze River for well over 1,000 years. It is the best preserved ancient town south of China's Yangtze River.
Cicheng's sturdy construction and its labyrinth of brick-paved streets easily recall the onetime national capital of Chang'an, inside present-day Xi'an, in Shaanxi Province, which was a capital during the Han and Tang dynasties. Cicheng, first established in the Tang Dynasty by county magistrate Fang Guan, grandson of then-chancellor Fang Xuanling (AD 579-648), is like a miniature Chang'an. Towns built with such rigorous planning were rare at that time since the style of most towns depended largely on terrain.
Since ancient times, the town has nurtured scholars, writers and politicians, leaving it dotted with residences of officials, ancestral halls, memorial archways and ancient academies. Such a large complex of that type of traditional architecture rarely is seen in southern China.
In 2009, Cicheng ancient architecture complex was awarded the UNESCO Asian-Pacific Awards for Culture Heritage Conservation.
Time slows down in Cicheng. Tranquil and solitary, the town transports tourists back to ancient times, with its street lined with varied styles of construction, the magnificent stairstep-peaked, fire-inhibiting outer walls of the rich juxtaposed with the motley walls built with discarded tiles by the poor.
The 75-yuan (US$12.2) ticket covers admission to the Confucius Temple, the ancient academy, a Taoist Temple and the historic county government office.
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