Shaohsing

After a short stay at Kinhwa, Ch'iu Chin returned to Shaohsing, and there she first heard the bad news from Kiangsi—the execution of many of her personal friends, the arrest and imprisonment of others. All hope of co-operation was thus destroyed.

Source: wiktionary

Of most interest, since they are unique and seem to be unknown anywhere else in the world, were the "foot-boats," as the few foreigners who have come to Shaohsing call them. The boatmen of this town, toward which we were headed, are famous, in so far as their fame has spread, for the way they row their long, slender, though by no means light, boats, tippy as canoes, with their legs.

Source: wiktionary

Prior to the opening of the treaty ports, Ningpo was a Janus-faced port serving the coastal trade (and overseas as far as Nagasaki and ports of Southeast Asia) on the east; and the canal trade of Chekiang, oriented toward Shaohsing and Hangchow on the west. The coastal entry to Ningpo was guarded from the east by the hsien seat of Chen-hai, at the mouth of the Yung River. The city of Ningpo (itself the seat of Yin hsien) and the hsien city of Tz’u-ch’i, midway between Ningpo and Shaohsing, were the merchant centers of the era before 1842.

Source: wiktionary

Picture above shows the colorful costumes used in Shaohsing opera.

Source: wiktionary