CHANGZHOU , just thirty minutes by train and an easy day trip from Wuxi, is yet another of the towns taking advantage of the dual axis of the Grand Canal and the Shanghai-Nanjing rail line. Like its neighbours, it has reaped economic benefits from convenient transport links, but in Changzhou new-found wealth (mainly from textiles) has not yet meant the wholesale destruction of the ancient city centre. Indeed, the central area, riddled with small waterways running off the main canal, still contains a few temples, narrow alleys, street markets and tiny stone bridges. Changzhou sees very few foreign tourists, but you could pleasantly spend a few hours wandering the town center.

As with many of the canal towns, the old city of Changzhou is heart-shaped and ringed by canals; at the centre of the heart, Bei Dajie and Nan Dajie are the two main streets, where you are most likely to find places to eat. This area, inside the innermost ring of the canal network, is the most interesting - as well as busy wharves, there are shops everywhere selling the locally produced silks and fabrics and Changzhou's own traditional painted wooden combs , available in every conceivable shape and size.

You're most likely to arrive in Changzhou by train , though by bus there are direct links with places like Yixing which are not on the rail line. The train station is in the northeast of town, just outside the canal ring, at the eastern end of Xinfeng Jie. The principal long-distance bus station is just a short distance to the southwest from here, along the same street. The Dadi Hotel, 58 Taiping Lu (tel 0519/8100968, fax 8109834, ¥150-300), to the right of the train station and down the first street to the left, offers reasonably priced doubles in nice surroundings. The hotel also has excellent massage and sauna services at relatively cheap prices.