Wuyuan

Wuyuan belonged historically to Huizhou and shares its architecture: white-walled, black-tiled houses with stepped gables, clustered in villages along streams. What makes it a destination is the combination with agriculture: in late March and early April the terraces around Jiangling and Huangling turn solid yellow with flowering rape, and the villages sit in the middle of it, an image that has made Wuyuan a fixture of Chinese spring travel. Huangling village, built on a steep slope, is known for shaiqiu, the autumn drying of chillies, corn and persimmons on round trays on the rooftops, a display staged now for visitors but rooted in practice.

What you actually see

• The rape flower terraces - hillsides solid yellow in late March and early April.
• Huangling village - houses stacked on a slope with round drying trays on roofs.
• The Huizhou architecture - white walls, black tiles and stepped gables.
• The autumn drying - chillies, corn and persimmons spread on rooftop trays.

When to go

March to April for the rape flowers, the peak lasting about two weeks and drawing enormous crowds; November for the autumn drying displays and colour. Outside those windows the villages are quiet and the terraces green or bare.

Honest expectations

The flowering season brings severe crowding, full accommodation and inflated prices. Huangling is reached by cable car with queues. The combined ticket covers many villages, not all worth the time. The rooftop drying is now largely a staged display.

Nearby

Huangshan lies northeast across the provincial border; Jingdezhen is west.