Hangzhou and Jinhua

The second part of our trip took us to Zhejiang, with visits to both Hangzhou and Jinhua to see the Zhejiang Normal University campus. Hangzhou was a city I hadn’t visited before, so it was great to finally have the chance to explore. I walked around West Lake, visited Xiangji Temple, and wandered through the historic streets around Hefang. One of the highlights of the weekend was trekking up Lingyin Mountain and exploring the temple complex. I was caught in a torrential rainstorm while up in the mountains, but it didn’t dampen the experience, the afternoon still felt like a peaceful escape just outside the city. Hangzhou offers a wonderful blend of rich culture and tradition, modern infrastructure, and beautiful natural scenery right on its doorstep.

Being in Hangzhou gave me the chance to meet colleagues at Zhejiang University, which hosts the journal Entrepreneurship Education, where I serve on the Editorial Board. I also previously contributed to a book on Comparative Entrepreneurship Education led by colleagues there, but until now we had never met in person. It was therefore a real pleasure to finally visit Zhejiang University and connect with the team face-to-face.

After spending some time exploring Hangzhou, I attended meetings at Zhejiang Normal University’s Hangzhou campus, where we also met with parents of students on our dual-degree programme. From there, we travelled to the main Zhejiang Normal University campus in Jinhua. However, we soon found ourselves back in Hangzhou for an additional induction with a new group of students, which meant a fair bit of zipping back and forth between Jinhua and Hangzhou.

Jinhua is a great city to explore, affordable, easy to navigate, and, like Hangzhou, offering quick access to the surrounding mountains. This gave me the chance to visit the Shuanglong Scenic Area, with its caves, temples, and lakes. I went on a quiet day, which made the visit peaceful and serene; it felt like a completely different side of China compared to the bustling cities we’d been in the week before.

One of the main highlights was the Double-Dragon Cave (Shuanglong Cave), which you enter by lying flat in a small boat to pass through a very low opening, a slightly claustrophobic squeeze before the cavern opens up to reveal beautiful waterfalls inside. Even so, the best part may have been simply walking through the natural landscape around the Lunv Lake, tea plantations, and temples, breathing in the mountain air. It was a memorable and refreshing contrast to the busier parts of the trip. In the evenings, I was able to visit Guzi City (Guzicheng) and Wanfo Pagoda, the historic old town area of Jinhua set along the riverside. This made for a nice break between lesson observations and meetings with our registered lecturers at Zhejiang Normal University.