Wenling, Zhejiang

Chinese Name: 温岭 (wēn lǐng)   
Population: 1,221,400
Area: 926 square kilometers (357 square miles)
Location: in the south of Taizhou, Zhejiang Province, east China
Area Code: 0576
Zip Code: 317500
GDP (2018): CNY 109.11 billion (USD 16.49 billion)

Located in the southeast coast of Zhejiang Province, Wenling is a county-level city under the jurisdiction of Taizhou City. It is close to the East Sea on the east, Yuhuan on the south and Wenzhou to the west. Wenling is one of the most economically powerful counties in China. Rich in marine resources with various types of aquatic products, Wenling Zhengjiang is known as the Shrimp Kingdom for the great shrimp export. There are also many beautiful scenic spots such as the Changyu Dongtian Stone Cave, Fang Mountain Scenic Area, Shitang Town and Dongxia Beach. Changyu Stone Cave is a must-see attraction which contains many stone caves with Buddha statues.

Changyu Stone Cave
Changyu Stone Cave is composed of four scenic spots: Eight Immortals Rock, Shuangmen Cave, Chongguo Temple and Ye Mountain, among which Eight Immortals Rock and Shuangmen Cave are mainly cave groups’ landscape. With a history of more than 1,500 years, the cave group is formed by manual mining of slate. Visitors can see a huge stone Maitreya Buddha statue, stone carving bowls with a diameter of 2.12 meters (6.96 feet), and all kinds of exquisite stone carving crafts. Chongguo Temple has pleasant scenery where visitors can overlook the East Sea. In addition, a Panda House is also situated there with two lovely giant pandas.

Shitang Town
Shitang Town, surrounded by the sea on three sides, has beautiful coastal scenery. The stone houses and roads are built on mountains per the level of terrain. In Xiaoruo Village, the houses are painted in various colors, which makes it look like a fairy tale town. Don't miss the sunrise here. It was Shitang Town that met the first ray of sunshine of mainland China in 2000. Visitors can also learn about local culture by visiting the planetarium and ship model exhibition hall.

Fang Mountain
Fang Mountain is a square mountain which looks like a huge box from afar. The area of the top of the mountain is as wide as more than 40 basketball courts. Standing on the top of the mountains, you can have a panoramic view of Wenhuang Plain as well as Wenzhou and Taizhou Cities when the weather is clear. In April, the mountains are covered by red azaleas. Temples, lakes, waterfalls and other interesting scenic spots are scattered on the Fang Mountain.

The best time to visit Wenling Zhejiang is in spring and autumn. Visitors are able to appreciate the gloomy flowers especially the red azaleas in the Fang Mountain in spring, from March to May. In autumn, from September to November, there are fewer rainy days and the weather is mild with an average temperature of 21℃ (70℉), which is suitable to have a trip to Wenling Zhejiang. After going through a cold winter time from December to February, the weather is warm and wet in spring, with an average temperature of 20℃ (68℉). It is hot and rainy from June to August and typhoons often occur during this period. It is better to be more attentive to the weather forecast before going out.

Wenling is 300km (186 mi) from Hangzhou, the capital of Zhejiang Province. Visitors can take a flight to Hangzhou Xiaoshan International Airport and then take a bullet train from Hangzhou East Railway Station to Wenling Zhejiang, taking about 2.5 hours. Or one can fly to Taizhou Luqiao Airport and then take a bullet train from Taizhou Railway to get there, taking only 11 minutes. As Wenling Railway Station has opened many routes to some major cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, Fuzhou and Ningbo, vistors are able to take a direct bullet train to Wenling.  It is also easy to access Wenling by taking a coach from Hangzhou and Taizhou.  
  See more: Shanghai - Wenling Train, Wenling - Ningbo Train, Hangzhou - Wenling Train, Wenling Train Schedule

The inner-city transportation methods rely on buses and taxis. It takes CNY8 for the first 2km of Wenling taxi and CNY2/km for the next distance. It takes CNY90-100 to Luqiao Airport, CNY40-50 to Wenling Railway Station and CNY20 to Wenling Passenger Transportation Center from the central Wenling.

The best Wenling food to try include Pickled Seafood with White Spirits, Shibingtong Pancake, Qian Cake, Green Bean Noodle and Chuiyuan (Wenling Steamed Buns).

  Shibingtong Pancake
Shibingtong is a kind of pancake. Spread and pan-fry the skin of Shibingtong made from flour until done and then wrap the skin with cellophane noodles, meat, carrots, potatoes, bean sprout and onion.

  Qian Cake
Qian Cake is a special rice cake in Wenling Zhejiang. Press the cooked rice cake into a pancake shape and then wrap it with fillings like the roasted pork, dried bean curd, potatoes, carrots and bean sprout.