Big Water, Great minds

Haining is known as the "Leather Capital", where huge malls sell quality leather goods. Photos Provided to China Daily

Its name is Haining, which literally translates to "sea of serenity? Indeed, it is a peaceful town to all appearances, a place where beauty of nature and natural wonders abound, a nursery for the literary greats of China who had gone on to become icons of their times.

Haining, roughly 130 km southwest of Shanghai, is an ideal place for those tired of the sedentary office life and needing a short getaway during the weekends to refresh both mind and spirit.

The place itself does not jump out at tourists. Instead, its main claim to fame lies with its past residents. The poet Xu Zhimo's Second Farewell to Cambridge is familiar to literature students and he is almost as well-known for his romance with the socialite, Lu Xiaoman.

Louis Cha, writing as Jin Yong, created a whole new world of chivalry and romance through his martial arts novels. Xu Guozhang, the famous linguist, gave Chinese students an English grammar textbook. All these great talents called Haining home.

It is a city only a ninth the size of Shanghai, spanning less than 700 sq km. But in the geography books,

Haining is famous for a natural wonder, the famous Qiantang tidal bore, which runs the length of the river right out to Hangzhou Bay.

This monthly tide surges to impressive speed as the water flows downstream and meets suddenly narrowing banks. At Haining's Yanguan, the tide runs 10 meters per second and its crest can tower more than three meters high. The biggest waves come around the Mid-Autumn Festival.

History records the watching of the Haining tidal bore as far back as the Han Dynasty (202 BC-AD 220), and since the Southern Song (1127-1279), the 18th day of the lunar month has been named the "Festival of Watching Tide".

Today, the tradition goes full circle and the tourist can admire the thundering bore at a distance, behind the safety of railings.

It still pays to be cautious because the foolhardy have paid with their lives in the past.

Near the spot where you can watch the tide is a famous residence of a high-ranking official who served in the reign of the third emperor of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), Yongzheng.

His name is Chen Yuanlong. Some say he was the real father of Qianlong, the fourth emperor, and one of the dynasty's most illustrious kings and accomplished in both martial and literary arts.

The story goes that the Emperor Yongzheng and Chen each had a baby at the same time, but Yongzheng found out his baby was a girl.

After learning that Chen had a boy, Yongzheng asked to see the baby.

The outcome is the stuff best-sellers are made off, and Chen was supposed to have resigned, returned home and to have kept the secret to his dying day.

Plenty of historians have argued against the story and say there is no connection between the Emperor Qianlong's frequent visits to Jiangnan to assuage his reputed "homesickness" and this tale.

But romance prevails and even Jin Yong wove the plot into one of his most famous novels.

After decades of economic evolution, Haining is now a dynamic commercial city, and its current calling card is the "Leather Capital". It is well-known for its leather-related goods and garments from fur coats to luggage, suitcases to shoes.

It is common for shoppers from Shanghai, Zhejiang and Jiangsu provinces to drive in at the leather goods hub for the most stylish leather products during weekends.

On weekend afternoons, there can be as many as 7,000 cars and more than 200 coaches parked outside the supermall selling leather products.

Retail space at the mall has grown more than 10 times in the last six years as Haining's leather producers attract the crowds with their stylish, affordable and colorful goods and accessories.

The global fur market may have shrunk by as much as 40 percent since the financial crisis hit in 2009, but in comparison, sales for the same products have grown by 30 percent in the same period, according to Zha Jialin, vice-president with the growth enterprise board-listed Haining Leather City.

(China Daily 01/09/2011 page16)