Yangzhou is already beautiful—until you visit Gaoyou, the town immortalized by Wang Zengqi

Why Gaoyou? This Jianghuai town, "marinated to perfection" in Wang Zengqi's prose, boasts the 7,000-year-old Longqiuzhuang ruins but made its name with oily double-yolk salted duck eggs! Here, the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal embraces Gaoyou Lake, creating the "Canal-on-Lake" wonder. The poetry stele of Qin Guan still stands fresh at Wenyou Terrace, while the Tang Dynasty bricks of Zhenguo Temple Pagoda have witnessed millennia of fishing lights—holding the scalding "Wang-style tofu" in one hand and the crimson sun of salted duck eggs in the other, this town slow-drips to the rhythm of lapping water, curing itself into amber light. One Town, One Lake, One Relay Station 📍 Old Town Time Capsule (Walking + Tricycle from ¥5) 10 Wang Zengqi Memorial Hall 🕒 9:00-17:00 | 🎫 Free (Closed Mondays) 📖 Light-shadow corridors recreate scenes from *The Love Story of a Monk*; rooftop views of old-town rooftops like steamer cloth 20 Ancient Wenyou Terrace 🕒 8:30-17:00 | 🎫 ¥30 🖋️ Where Su Dongpo and Qin Guan drank together; climb to watch canal barges move like toy blocks 30 Yucheng Relay Station (China's last surviving Ming Dynasty courier station) 🕒 8:30-17:30 | 🎫 ¥25 📜 Feed horses at the Stone Trough of Horse God Temple; admire the 8-meter lacquer engraving *Rhymes of the Courier Road* in Huanghua Hall 🌅 Lake & Canal Symphony 40 Zhenguo Temple Pagoda 🕒 Open all day | 🎫 Free 📸 Tang Dynasty square pagoda on a lake island; sunset splits golden-red waves with its shadow 50 Gaoyou Lake Wild Beach (📍 Mapeng East Lake) 🚗 ¥15 taxi from downtown | 🎫 Free 🌾 June turns reed marshes into green mazes; rent a boat to hunt duck eggs (¥20/person) 🎑 Hidden Gems 60 Longqiuzhuang Ruins 🕒 9:00-16:30 | 🎫 ¥35 🦴 See 4,000-year-old carbonized rice; pottery markings may predate oracle bones by a millennium 70 Jieshou Reed Marsh Railway 📍 Jieshou Town riverbank | 🚂 Abandoned coal line 🌄 Sunset gilds the sleepers; snap *Kikujiro's Summer*-style photos Wang's Culinary Decoder 🌞 Gaoyou Slow Morning 👉 Yangchun noodles + Pu-pork: Jiao’s Alley Noodles (explosive lard aroma, thinly sliced grass-smoked meat) 👉 Crab roast pork buns: Beihai Teahouse (steam-basket reveals crab oil soaking the folds) 👉 Pepper Wang-style tofu: Wang Sisters (duck blood + tofu + liver in thick sauce, topped with fresh-ground white pepper) 🦆 Salted Egg Kingdom ❗ Trust *Red Sun* brand: South Gate Egg Shop (vacuum-packed, yolks creamy like cheese) 🍳 Ultimate runny-yolk hack: Bury egg in congee | Wrap in sticky rice and fry 🥚 Dark Easter eggs: Drunken eggs (rice wine-soaked) | Salted yolk stir-fried stinky tofu 🌿 Lake Delicacies ▪ Eel noodles: Zhou’s (wild eel, milky broth) ▪ Snowflake tofu soup: Old Fuchun (crucian carp base, tofu shredded 30,000 times!) ▪ Water chestnut shoots: West Lake boat cuisine (tender stems with river shrimp, June-only) ⏱ Classic Speedrun Route Yucheng Relay Station at dawn → Wang Zengqi Memorial → Wenyou Terrace noon views → Zhenguo Pagoda sunset → West Dike beer-and-duck feast Local Pro Tips ⚠️ Traps to avoid: - Don’t buy salted eggs at tourist spots! Stick to *Red Sun* or *Sanhu* brands (authentic at South Gate Street shops) - Zhenguo Pagoda climbs only on 1st/15th lunar days, but lakeside paths always open 🚲 Transport hacks: - Rent e-scooters (¥2/20min) to hunt Wang’s famed "Eight-Thousand-Year" oven cakes in alleys - For "Gaoyou Lake sunset," navigate to 📍 Guoji Reed Marsh—wear rain boots! 🥄 Secret rituals: ❗ Pair Wang tofu with Gaoyou white liquor | Crush yolk into lard rice ❗ West Dike stalls code: "Half duck with giblets, extra gravy!" 🔑 Ultimate truth: Live like Wang’s badger— Dawn at the canal waiting for diving ducks, noon counting moss in Yucheng’s ancient bricks, dusk crouching at Zhenguo Pier with a salted egg. Watch the pagoda pierce the yolk-like sun, spilling oily gold into the canal, till the whole town becomes a glowing eggshell.