The old town centre corresponds roughly to the area facing onto the broad Ou River to the north, bounded by the two important shopping streets, Xinhe Lu and Jiefang Lu, to the west and east respectively. To the south, the area is bordered approximately by Renmin Lu, although you'll see that the bulldozers and architects of the modern city are encroaching steadily over this line. The city has been subject to an extensive facelift over the past few years, and the main shopping street, the pedestrianized Wuma Jie , has been transformed from a charming jumble of mom-and-pop shops into a mix of modern boutiques. Farther towards the river, though, life is still much as it has always been, with some unexpected old stone facades above the shop entrances.

There are also a few specific sights worth searching out. Right in the middle of the old town area, on Canghe Xiang, is the Wenzhou Cultural Artefacts Shop , where all kinds of art-related objects (including brushes, paints, scrolls and some antiques) are on sale in an interesting old building. Just south of here, suddenly looming up on Cheng Xi Jie, is an incongruous Christian Church , a gothic building of black brick dating back to 1778, originally built by a British missionary. Many residents of the surrounding streets here are fervent Christians, and if you enquire they'll gladly show you into their church, though it's nothing special inside. A few minutes south, on Zhouzhaisi Xiang running east from Xinhe Jie, is the rather larger but less attractive Catholic Church , dating to 1888 during the treaty port era. One rather more typically Chinese sight is the Miaoguo (daily 8am-5pm; ¥3), on Renmin Xi Lu, on the southern side of Songtai Hill. Originally constructed in the Tang dynasty, more than a thousand years ago, this temple has been rebuilt many times, most recently in 1984.

The major tourist sight of Wenzhou, however, is Jiangxin Park , an island located a few minutes offshore in the Ou River to the north of town. The park - where no cars are allowed - contains a number of pavilions, towers and gardens, and is well worth two or three hours for a stroll or a picnic among the huge old trees. The most notable features of the island's skyline are its two towers ; of these the one to the east is old and decrepit, but the western one has been fully restored. To reach the island, go to the jetty at the northern end of Maxingseng Jie from where boats run every few minutes (daily 6.30am-4pm; ¥7 combined boat ride and island entrance fee). Returning from the island, you pay another ¥3 when you disembark townside. At the time of writing, a bridge was under construction, and there were plans to introduce a bus service to the island.