Wùzhōu

The Wùzhōu culture fills the Jinqu basin of central Zhejiang, around Jinhua and its satellite towns of Lanxi, Dongyang, Yiwu, Yongkang and Wuyi. A county existed here from the second century BC, and in 589 the Sui created Wuzhou Prefecture with its seat at Jinhua; the Tang later split off Quzhou to the west, and after passing through the Wuyue kingdom and the Song, Wuzhou became Wuzhou Route under the Yuan in 1276. Jinhua's present walled city dates to 1352.

Its people speak the Wuzhou division of Southern Wu, a chain of related but distinct county varieties spread across the basin. The Wu River links the prefecture through the Qiantang to the southern end of the Grand Canal, making Jinhua a collecting center for rice, bamboo and forest goods.

Its cured ham has been famous since the Song, and the broad-halled, horse-head-gabled merchant residences built here in the Ming and Qing form the distinctive Wu-school of architecture.