Russian poet and Nobel Prize laureate Joseph Brodsky once famously said: “If you want to lead a happy life, choose a provincial town along a grand river.” Was he thinking about Yichang in central China’s Hubei Province? Probably not, but the feeling here is just the same.

Without any doubt, Shanghai is an immensely inspiring city, but it can also be, from time to time, quite tiresome: too many people, too much information, too busy traffic and, overall, a constant feeling of communication overload. So, why not, instead of spending two hours on the Metro from Hongkou District to Songjiang, take an airplane and dislocate yourself in a totally different environment?

Within even two hours from Pudong or Hongqiao airport, you can easily fly to Yichang, one of the most atmospheric and mesmerizing cities along the Yangtze River. Its hotels are rarely booked out, even during national holidays, so it is no problem to find a convenient and affordable accommodation in the very heart of the city.

The river and the city

In Yichang, the Yangtze River is always within walking distance. Particularly beautiful is Yanjiang Boulevard, the waterfront along Yangtze, with its trees and lotus flowers, its pavilions and shady squares, surrounded by bushes full of butterflies. In the morning and evening hours, local people gather there to dance, to make music or simply to enjoy themselves and the great view over Yichang’s five bridges.

Unimpressed, Yangtze River flows slowly and majestically. Some people even take a swim, the bravest among them even cross the river. The water is clear, but the strong current and the huge cargo ships on the river can also be dangerous. So, you better leave your bathing suit at home.

Yichang is famous for its textile industry, agricultural products, local cuisine — particularly fish and turtle — and its piano production. The brand Yangtze River, belonging to Hong Kong-based Parsons Music, produces every seventh grand piano worldwide. If, somewhere in the world, you would listen to a piece of Chopin, Rachmaninoff or Beethoven, it might very well be on a Yangtze River piano.

Walking casually through the pedestrian area of Yichang, along colorful Zhongshan Road and Sixin Road with its many and picturesque shops, one difference from Shanghai is absolutely striking: People here are much more relaxed and at ease. In fact, the whole city appears to be one single neighborhood, where one would frequently meet friends, colleagues or schoolmates. It happened even to myself as I bumped into a journalist whom I just had met a few days before. Highly unlikely in a city of 24 million inhabitants!

Starting point to some landmarks

Yichang is the ideal home base for exploring some landmarks of ancient and modern China. It is the birthplace of ancient poet Qu Yuan (340-278 BC). Until today, Chinese children learn his lines by heart: “From spring to fall, flowers will blow; from age to age, the rites will go.”

Qu represents an unbroken tradition in Chinese literature for more than 2,000 years. He is also famous as the initiator of the Dragon Boat Festival, celebrated today all over China. During a festive ceremony, musicians, students and pupils commemorate China’s first and most eminent poet.

By the way, the specialty food zongzi, sticky rice either filled with meat, sweet beans or dates, is linked to Qu’s tragic end. Having drowned himself in a river, farmers threw sticky rice balls into the water to prevent the fish from going for Qu’s corpse. Well, at least that’s the mythical story of zongzi, displayed in a nearby museum with an impressive statue of Qu.

But not only for lovers of ancient Chinese literature, the poet’s museum is worth visiting. The site offers a stunning view over one of modern China’s most prestigious infrastructural projects, the Three Gorges Dam.

If you are looking for world records in construction and engineering, it is just the right place to be. The dam itself is not only an enormous technological achievement, but also a major tourist attraction all over China, and can easily be accessed by bus or car.

The museum of Three Gorges Dam gives a chronological overview of the giant hydro project. After construction, Chinese engineers have gained specific technical knowledge, which is now applied to other projects within China and abroad, along the Belt and Road Initiative.

All along the road back to the hotel, local people sell their oranges. The taste is particularly sweet and refreshing after a long summer’s day. As the soil in Hubei Province is rich and the climate humid and hot, the orange trees in Yichang yield during all four seasons.

Where ancient tales become alive

Dangyang City and Zigui County are close to the green hills surrounding Yichang. After a 30 minutes’ drive from the city center, you suddenly find yourself in a peaceful world that seems to belong to a fairy tale. A ginkgo tree, 1,000 years old, and still bearing fruits, stands in the luscious park of Dangyang.

The nearby Buddhist temple holds the memory of Guan Yu, a legendary military general during the late Eastern Han Dynasty (AD 25-220). A group of Buddhist monks are praying, and believers bow and burn incense. Guan is said to be beheaded at the very place, poetically called the Jade Spring Mountain. Until today, it bears the very same name. Some locals even claim to be the direct descendants of Guan.

The whole place leaves the dreamlike impression of a mythical encounter between historical facts, poetical tradition and today’s reality. Not far away from the temple at Jade Spring Mountain lies the tomb of Guan, a memorial of imperial beauty and harmonic proportions, charmingly embedded between fields and meadows. It is the true rural China.

The Great Waterfall of the Three Gorges is not far from Yichang. At the end of a rather deep gorge, nature itself offers a spectacular view over a cliff of more than 70 meters. If you are not afraid of getting completely wet, you can even have a walk under the thundering waterfall. Quite an experience!

After so many activities, it is a real pleasure to enjoy lunch in one of the local restaurants in the countryside. Xinrong Country Park in Juntianba Village is a particularly nice place for lunch, surrounded by a beautiful garden that would remind a European of mythical Klingsor’s garden. Food here is, in one word, marvelous: Fish come directly from the pond, meat from local farms, fruits and vegetables from the fields nearby. Yichang cuisine is very rich in taste: simple, unpretentious and yet refined. In France, Xinrong Country Park would gain at least one Michelin star.

After six days, the journey to Yichang comes to its end. Every moment leaves a special memory — rivers and mountains, city and countryside, literature and reality, ancient times and modernity. Right on time, the aircraft, run by Shanghai Airlines, takes off. Seen from high above, the differences between Yangtze and Huangpu rivers are not so striking. But on the ground, the vibes and hypes of the Big City are immediately back.

Suddenly, I realize that during all these wonderful days, I still have missed Shanghai. Somehow.

If you go:

1. By air: It takes about two hours from Shanghai to Yichang by plane.

2. By train: You will spend a bit over seven hours on a high-speed train from Shanghai to Yichang.