Although Shaoxing's immediate centre comprises a standard shopping street, elsewhere there are running streams, black-tiled whitewashed houses, narrow lanes divided by water, alleys paved with stone slabs, and back porches housing tiny kitchens that hang precariously over canals lined with old ladies doing their daily washing. You can easily explore all of this by bicycle. Fushan Park (daily 7am-10pm; ¥8), in the west of town south of the Shaoxing Hotel, is as good a place as any to get your orientation. There's a large temple here near the entrance, a number of small pavilions as you climb the hill, and from the top you can see out over the town's canals and bridges, not to mention the large numbers of amorous couples who gather in the park, especially after sunset. The main entrance to the park is on Fushanhen Jie, a small street easily found by the prominent archway guarding over its eastern end next to the north-south thoroughfare, Jiefang Lu. In the afternoons and evenings Fushanhen Jie transforms into a frenetic marketplace selling everything from vegetables to bootleg CDs.

Along Jiefang Lu are a number of famous people's former residences. The exquisitely tranquil Qingteng Shuwu (Green Vine Study; daily 8am-4.30pm; ¥2), a perfect little sixteenth-century black-roofed house, hides one hundred metres south of the Renmin Lu intersection on a small alley, Houguan Xiang, west off the main road. The house is rather hard to find as there are no signs along Jiefang Lu, but passers-by, many unused to seeing foreigners, are eager to help. The serenity of the place belies the fact that it was once the home of the eccentric Ming painter and dramatist Xu Wei (1521-93), who among other violent acts in his life is notorious for having murdered his wife. Xu led a particularly colourful existence, serving as the emperor's principal calligrapher, battling Japanese pirates, and eventually, at the end of his life, as a destitute vagrant selling his calligraphy anonymously. Some of his brushes, paintings and calligraphy are still on display in the house.

Another 500m south down Jiefang Lu from here the Yingtian Pagoda (daily 8am-5pm; ¥2) crowns a low hill, Tu Shan. Part of a temple founded by the Song, burnt down by the Taiping rebels and subsequently rebuilt, the pagoda repays the stiff climb with splendid views over the canals of the town. The black roof tiles, visible a block to the south, belong to the former residence of the early radical woman activist Qiu Jin , situated on a small lane, Hechang Tang. Born here in 1875, Qiu Jin went to study in Japan, before returning to China to work as a teacher and join Sun Yatsen's clandestine revolutionary party. After working as editor of several revolutionary papers in Shanghai, and taking part in a series of abortive coups, she was captured and executed in Hangzhou in 1907 by Qing forces. The house (daily 8am-4pm; ¥1) is full of background material on her life, and although there's no explanation in English, the photographs and paintings convey some of the atmosphere of the time. It's a reflection of the ideological changes that have taken place in China in recent years that Qiu Jin's house today is a neglected and forlorn place.

Heading east off Jiefang Lu, down Luxun Lu, are several sights associated with the writer Lu Xun . His childhood and early youth were spent in Shaoxing, and local characters populate his books. Supposedly, he based his short story Kong Yi Ji, about a village idiot who failed the imperial exams and was thus ostracized from mainstream society, in part on observations in a bar that used to stand on this street. Thanks to the fact that the city has been relatively sheltered from violent change, many of the backdrops from his writings are still recognizable today. The first one you'll come to is the Lu Xun Memorial Hall (daily 8am-4.30pm; ¥7), though for foreigners there's little of interest here as the exhibition lacks English captions. A few minutes farther east, however, beyond the plain Lu Xun Library , you'll find Lu Xun's Former Residence , which has now been converted into a Folk Museum (daily 8am-4.30pm; ¥2). Drop in here for a wander through the writer's old rooms and for a stroll in his garden. Having seen the high, secretive outer walls of so many compounds, it makes a change to get a look at the spacious interior and numerous rooms inside a traditional house. Immediately across the road from the museum is the Sanwei Shuwu (Three Flavour Study; daily 8am-4.30pm; free), the small school where Lu Xun was taught as a young boy. There is just one room to see, and on a small desk to the right is a smooth stone and a bowl of water, which, in former times, were the only available tools for calligraphy students too poor to buy ink and paper. Visitors today are supposed to write their names in water on the stone for luck. A couple of minutes' walk further down the street on the left lies a small recreation of the Xianheng Jiudian , the bar in which Kong Yi Ji supposedly took place, and where you can order Shaoxing baijiu liquor and chat with the locals.

One further sight definitely worth seeking out in Shaoxing predates Lu Xun by several hundred years. Lying a couple of hundred metres to the north of the Lu Xun buildings, in the east of the town - in the heart of one of Shaoxing's most picturesque and traditional neighbourhoods - is the most famous of all the town's old bridges, Bazi Qiao (Character Eight Bridge). Having acquired its name because the bridge looks like the Chinese character for the number eight, this thirteenth-century piece of engineering is still very much in use. To find it, head a couple of blocks north from Renmin Lu, up Zhongxing Zhong Lu. The small alley called Baziqiao Zhi Jie, leading to the bridge, runs east off here.