Changzhou 常州Chángzhōu

About Changzhou

Changzhou lies on the Grand Canal between Wuxi and Nanjing and is best known to visitors for its theme parks, led by China Dinosaurs Park, open since 2000, with fossil halls alongside the rides. In the city centre the 13-storey pagoda of Tianning Temple, completed in 2007, rises 153.79 metres, and at Chunqiu Yancheng in Wujin three rings of moats survive from a town of the Spring and Autumn period. Tianmu Lake lies among the hills of Liyang to the south.

What to eat in Changzhou

• Changzhou sesame cake (常州大麻糕)

Listed sites in Changzhou

17 sites in Changzhou are on the official lists. Those with a page of their own link to it; the rest open as cards on the map.

• China Dinosaurs Park 中华恐龙园 5A scenic area · on the map
  A dinosaur-themed amusement park in Xinbei District, opened in 2000, with rides, shows and parades built around its theme.
• Chunqiu Yancheng (Yancheng Ruins) 春秋淹城 5A scenic area · National heritage site
  The earthworks of Yancheng, a walled town of the late Spring and Autumn period, form the core of this tourist area in Wujin: three rings of ramparts and three moats set one inside another, an arrangement rare among early Chinese city sites.
• Tianmu Lake and Nanshan Bamboo Sea 天目湖 5A scenic area
  Tianmu Lake is a reservoir in the hills south of Liyang, built in 1958–61 as the Shahe Reservoir and renamed in 1992 when it was opened for tourism.
• Changzhou Museum 常州博物馆 4A scenic area
  Changzhou's main city museum, founded in 1958 and housed since 2007 in a large modern building beside the civic square in Xinbei District.
• China Filial Piety Park 中华孝道园 4A scenic area · on the map
  A themed park of about 860 mu (some 57 hectares) on the shore of Lake Tai at Xueyan, backed by the Lu'e hills and devoted to the Confucian virtue of filial piety.
• Former Jiangnan Command of the New Fourth Army, Shuixi 新四军江南指挥部旧址 4A scenic area · National heritage site · on the map
  The Li family ancestral hall in Shuixi village, where the New Fourth Army set up its Jiangnan Command on 7 November 1939 under Chen Yi, with Su Yu as deputy, to direct its anti-Japanese operations around Maoshan and southern Jiangsu.
• Hongmei Park 红梅公园 4A scenic area · on the map
  A large city park east of Changzhou's old centre, opened in 1960 and named after the Hongmei (Red Plum) Pavilion, one of its two old buildings together with the Wenbi Pagoda.
• Huagu Qiyuan Flower Valley 花谷奇缘 4A scenic area · on the map
  A commercial flower park in the Maoshan resort area, laid out as ten themed gardens with a hillside of planted flower fields.
• Maoshan Forest World 茅山森林世界 4A scenic area · on the map
  An outdoor activity park covering about 3,500 mu (some 230 hectares) of forest and bamboo on the Jintan side of Maoshan, with forest-themed attractions such as a 'magic black forest' and a rafting run through the woods.
• Old Grand Canal and Nandajie District 古运河南大街 4A scenic area · on the map
  The historic centre of Changzhou along the old course of the Grand Canal, combining Nandajie, the city's main pedestrian shopping street, with canal-side Xiyingli, where Xiying Gate and about 220 metres of wall are all that survive of the city walls.
• Oriental Salt Lake City (Dao Tianxia) 东方盐湖城·道天下 4A scenic area · on the map
  A modern leisure resort at the foot of Maoshan, the Taoist holy mountain, themed on Taoist culture and on the area's hills, water, tea, salt, herbs and hot springs.
• Qingfeng Park 青枫公园 4A scenic area · on the map
  A large public park in western Changzhou, opened in 2008 after four years of building and laid out with lakes, low man-made hills, woodland and a big central lawn.
• World Joyland 环球动漫嬉戏谷 4A scenic area · on the map
  A theme park on the shore of Lake Tai at Xueyan in Wujin, opened in 2011 and built around video-game and animation themes, with roller coasters and other rides.
• Former Residence of Qu Qiubai 瞿秋白故居 National heritage site · on the map
  The Qu family ancestral hall on Yanling West Road, where Qu Qiubai, an early leader of the Chinese Communist Party and a writer and translator, lived with his family from 1912 to 1916.
• Former Residence of Zhang Tailei 张太雷故居 National heritage site
  The house in Zihe Li, a lane off Qingliang Road, where Zhang Tailei, an early leader of the Chinese Communist Party, lived with his family from 1918 to 1925.
• Jin Garden 近园 National heritage site
  A small private garden laid out in 1668–1672 by the retired official Yang Qingyan, with the painter Wang Hui involved in its design, and counted among Changzhou's four classic gardens.
• Tang Family Residences, Qingguo Lane 唐氏民宅 National heritage site · on the map
  Two Ming-dynasty courtyard houses of the Tang family on Qingguo Lane, a restored historic street along an old arm of the Grand Canal in central Changzhou.

On the map

Open Changzhou on the illustrated map to see its outline, its places and listed sites together, and to add them to a trip.

Learn more

• Wikipedia
• Official website
• Wikipedia (Chinese)