Jinshan launches tourism festival

The Jinshan Tourism Festival will feature a parade, kite flying, a seafood fest, Buddhist temple culture, fruit picking, a group wedding and trips to inhale the fragrance of sweet osmanthus. The festival, which runs from Sunday through October 8, is part of the Shanghai Tourism Festival. Titled "Romance on the Beach, Fun in the Sea," the festival will cover the districts famous scenic spots and ancient towns, such as the City Beach on Hangzhou Bay, the 1,000-year-old water towns Fengjing and Zhujing, the fruit orchards of Luxiang Town and the seafood-lovers' destination Shanyang Town. The opening ceremony will feature a parade of 22 elaborately decorated floats. The main route is Qianjing Avenue in the Shihua area. Visitors don't need to hurry because the floats will be displayed on the avenue for several hours. A seafood gala will be held at Jinshanzui fishing village on the Hangzhou Bay, offering urban gourmands a rich variety of fish, shrimps, crabs, clams and other treats from the ocean. During the National Holiday week, kite flying matches will be held on City Beach. One of the highlights of the tourism festival is the group wedding that has been held each year in the water town Fengjing and last year at the Shanghai Expo Park. This year the event moves to West Lake in Hangzhou, a scenic spot famous for love stories. Throughout September and through the end of the national holiday, Donglin Temple will hold a Buddhism Culture Festival. In addition, Jinshan's various cottage inns and home-style village bistros are offering abundant authentic local cooking and snacks. Visitors can make traditional dumplings with the local aunties and roll up their sleeves to be one-day farmers, picking fruits in orchards or the fields or herding ducks by a lake.