Over this past weekend, some of our students enrolled at Minzu University of China took their annual Spring Outing – this year, to Gubei Water Town. Situated about a 2-hour drive northeast of Beijing, the April weather made it absolutely perfect to explore for a spring outing. It surrounds various canals and offshoots of Yuanyang lake. Modeled after the famous water towns of the south here in China. Despite its ancient and picturesque appearance – canals, wood and stone buildings, arched bridges, and willows- it’s actually a recent construction project, specifically created to be a historical resort. The actual historical water towns, or “canal towns” of China are located in the southern provinces of Jiangsu and Zhejiang, usually along the Yangtze river delta. Many of them have been around all the way since the Spring and Autumn Period, and some like Wuzhen and Zhouzhang are even classified as UNESCO heritage sites due to their importance for cultural preservation. Gubei itself, despite being designed as a historical resort, was only built in 2014, so I’d say it’s a tad recent to make the UNSECO criterion fit.
Although Gubei is more ecent, it’s still designed to showcase historical accuracy, and it does deliver on that front. It’s a gorgeous town to explore, and it’s full of culture as well. Traditional hot springs, theaters, paper craft stores, puppetry exhibits and various ethnic cuisines spots line the streets, and that’s only the beginning. Yuantong pagoda stands tall above the town, making for a gorgeous landmark. I hiked up to it on my own, and while the pagoda itself and the viewing platform it sits on are closed off the public currently, the view it offers of the town, the Great Wall, and the scenery around is amazing, especially on a clear, sunny day like the day we visited. Another section of Gubei that caught my eye was a series of photography exhibits showcasing different sections of the Great Wall of China, hidden in individual buildings surrounding a temple that was a little off the main road and tourist areas.
There’s also a lot of more properly “educational” attractions there as well. A personal favorite of mine was a wine museum showcasing the traditional methods of brewing Chinese liquors, along with some background information and exhibits on the farming and infrastructure surrounding the industry as well. There were also temples and shrines tucked away everywhere, with a standout to me being right behind the aforementioned winery – to Mencius, where people offered miscellaneous amounts of money, candy, incense, and occasionally even cigarettes and my classmates prayed to not receive hangovers from Gubei alcohol. They gave out free samples in the shops and after one shot, rest assured I was not particularly tempted to try any more.
Beyond the winery, some more of the obviously big attractions in Gubei are the boat rides around the lakes and canals, and the Great Wall. Gubei is located right on the Simatai Great Wall section, just a cable car ride away from the town itself. While I was too busy exploring the town itself to visit either, some of my Minzu classmates explored the Great Wall and some of my TBC classmates got to experience the boat tours, and both parties said it was incredible. All in all, it was the perfect spring outing, and I’d absolutely recommend it to anyone wanting to learn a little bit about either Chinese culture, or anyone in the North who wants a taste of the traditional South without the travel time or expensive ticket.
By Jane Turner, Spring 2026
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