Three days and two nights, spend a true Chinese New Year in the ancient villages of Huizhou
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Who says winter is not suitable for travel?
Winter in Yixian County is like a living ink painting.
The ink is the mountains, the white is the snow, and that little bit of red—
is the lanterns, the spring couplets, the glossy cured meat hanging under the eaves,
and the warm festive breeze drifting through the alleys 🎐.
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🔖 Highlights of the itinerary:
✅ Stay in a Huizhou-style garden hotel in Xidi, a World Heritage site
✅ Write spring couplets, cut paper window decorations, make food peach, and weave bamboo strips by hand
✅ Eat pig-killing feast, Xigezi tea, and cured meat knife board sausage
✅ Watch the bench dragon, light show, and soak in warm winter soup
✅ Explore Xidi, Nanping, Hongcun, and Mukeng Bamboo Sea
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📅 How to spend three days and two nights:
|Stay in the painting-like Xidi
▪️ Arrive at noon and check in at Xidi Boxinyunshe
▪️ In the afternoon, follow the guide to tour winter Xidi—amid the black, white, and gray ink tones, the red lanterns, cured meat, and spring couplets shine brightly
▪️ Drink a cup of Xigezi tea in a Ming Dynasty old house, sitting warmly by the fire bucket
▪️ Dinner with steaming hot pig-killing feast
▪️ At night, watch the light show and bench dragon parade; the ancient village is lively, not quiet at all
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|Intangible Cultural Heritage Experience Day
▪️ After breakfast, go to Nanping, walk through seventy-two alleys, and see the ancestral hall’s light and shadow
▪️ Write a pair of spring couplets by hand in the ancestral hall and bring blessings home
▪️ Visit a farmer’s house to make and steam food peach, and eat lunch cooked on a wood stove
▪️ In the afternoon, head to Hongcun, where the Moon Pond looks like an inkstone, South Lake like ink, and red lanterns reflect in the water
▪️ Learn paper cutting from an intangible cultural heritage teacher and cut your own festive window decorations
▪️ Dinner with a Huizhou banquet (stinky mandarin fish is a must-try!)
▪️ After dinner, soak in the hot springs at Qishu Lake to relieve the day’s fatigue
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|Farewell in the Bamboo Sea
▪️ After breakfast, head to Mukeng Bamboo Sea
▪️ Walk in the bamboo sea listening to the wind like waves and watch snow shaking on bamboo tips
▪️ Learn bamboo weaving from a master craftsman and make a handmade souvenir
▪️ Lunch with farmhouse food cooked in bamboo tubes, mountain delicacies and free-range chicken so fresh it’ll blow your mind
▪️ Return home satisfied in the afternoon
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▫️ The aroma of cured meat in Xidi really fills the alleys; every photo looks like a movie scene
▫️ Writing spring couplets in Nanping’s ancestral hall feels very ceremonial, with the scent of ink mixed with wood
▫️ The lantern reflections by Hongcun’s Moon Pond are stunning at dusk during the blue hour
▫️ The moment you open the bamboo tube rice, the fragrance... I still miss it now 🍚
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A three-day Huizhou New Year journey
is not just a trip, but more like a ritual returning to tradition.
Bring home your handmade window decorations, spring couplets, and bamboo weaving,
along with the aroma of cured meat and the warmth of hot springs.
This winter, I was truly healed ❄️.
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📌 Tips:
▪️ Yixian is cold in the early morning and evening in winter, remember to wear a thick coat
▪️ Some experiences require advance booking; it’s recommended to contact the hotel for arrangements
▪️ Wear plain or red clothes for better photos