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Hu Xueyan's Hangzhou: Merchant Legacy, Chinese Medicine & City Views
The tour lasts 4 hours
Available in English
Description
Walk through 19th-century Hangzhou with a licensed tour guide and certified docent at the Zhejiang Provincial Museum. This is a storytelling walk with outside visits — we'll admire each site's architecture and history from the outside, with entry tickets available separately if you wish to explore inside.
Start outside Hu Xueyan's Former Residence, the opulent mansion of China's most legendary Qing dynasty merchant-banker, known as the "Red-Hat Businessman" — hear how a poor clerk became China's richest man, and why he still fascinates business students today. Continue to Huqingyutang, a 150-year-old working Traditional Chinese Medicine pharmacy where masters still hand-prepare herbal remedies exactly as they did in 1874. Wander through Dama Lane, a lively local market street packed with street food, spices, and everyday Hangzhou life — a side of the city most tourists never see. Finish climbing to City God Pavilion's panoramic viewpoint, overlooking West Lake, the old town, and the Qiantang River as the sun begins to set.
Along the way, learn the stories behind Hangzhou's business history, traditional medicine culture, and the transformation of this city across centuries.
Guide: Jacky
Guiding since 2025PRO
Jacky GONG — Licensed bilingual (English/Chinese) tour guide & official docent at the Zhejiang Provincial Museum.
Before guiding, I spent 15 years as an IT engineer, speaking the logical language of code. But the call of the trails, the whisper of ancient trees, and the stories etched in the stones of this city kept pulling me off the screen. Becoming a guide wasn't a career change — it was a homecoming.
To me, Hangzhou is more than the "paradise on earth" of postcards. It's a living masterpiece where every hill, temple, and tea field has a soul — like perfect software written by nature and history, with West Lake as its interface and the surrounding mountains as its deep codebase.
I've now guided 500+ travelers from 10+ countries, hiked Hangzhou's mountain trails for 15 years, and specialize in 240-hour visa-free transit tours. I lead free tours because the best way to experience Hangzhou is through genuine connection, not a rigid itinerary — the secret spots away from the crowds, local legends you won't find in guidebooks, and the quiet peace of a hidden trail. I even weave classical Chinese poetry into the walk, something international guests rarely get elsewhere.
Join me — let's swap stories and decode the hidden beauty of Hangzhou together, one step at a time.
Hu Xueyan's Hangzhou: Merchant Legacy, Chinese Medicine & City Views
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