The century-old lighthouse on the eastern end of Shengsi Island. Photo: CFP
With the moon cake feast behind us, and autumn just around the corner, it's probably too late to plan a big summer escape. But if city dwellers in Shanghai are not ready to pack away their sandals just yet, Shengsi Island, located among the Zhoushan Archipelago in Zhejiang Province, is just a ferry ride away. Shengsi Island has much to offer, for those who want to escape the hustle and bustle of Shanghai, while enjoying some picturesque seaside scenery.
Seafood delights
Local residents on Shengsi Island take pride in the vast variety and quality of seafood dishes served in local restaurants. As soon as tourists step off the ferry at the pier, locals flock over with colorful pamphlets for seafood eateries, all claiming to be the most authentic and best place to enjoy seafood on the island.
A 20-minute walk from the pier takes hungry tourists to Jinghai Road, the main street in Caiyuan town where most of the island's seafood restaurants are sited. A restaurant owner, surnamed Jin, told the Global Times that the island has the best fresh-from-the-net food in the whole of the Yangtze River Delta region.
"A large number of Shengsi locals are fishermen, and they bring their catch back onto the island early in the morning," said Jin. "What we put on the restaurant tables is truly fresh, clean and delicious."
Jin said most Shanghai tourists go to the island for its local specialty - fresh hairy clams - a delicacy that has almost disappeared from city menus as a result of the 1988 epidemic when nearly 16,000 people got hepatitis from eating polluted clams.
"Nearly all tourists who dine in my restaurant order hairy clams, because only a few restaurants in the city still offer such a dish," said Jin. "My restaurant has had the dish on our menu for nearly 20 years, and no one who has ever reported back getting sick."
Most people at the seafood restaurants seem to agree with Jin's optimism, as they busied themselves with the steamed hairy clams or fried garlic clams. Other popular dishes are steamed shiban - also known as grouper - and white shrimps.
Mussel lovers can also go to the island for the mussel festival in October, an annual event that offers fabulous mussels and promotes environmental protection and marine travel.