The Shanghai skyline glowing gold at dusk across the Huangpu River
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Shanghai / Hangzhou · East China

Jiangnan & Modern China

China at its most cosmopolitan — and, an hour away, at its most serene. Tournament fairways, design hotels and the still water of West Lake.

Ideal Length
4–6 nights
Golf
3–4 rounds
Best Season
Year-round
Pairs With
Beijing · Yunnan
Where Jiangnan fits in a journey
The Journey

Two Chinas, an hour apart.

Shanghai is the China that startles first-time visitors — a skyline from the future above a river of century-old banking halls. An hour south lies Jiangnan, the land "south of the river": West Lake under morning mist, tea terraces, canal towns. No other journey holds both within a single week.

Ours runs on private access — a table above the lights of the Bund, a dawn boat on West Lake before the crowds, Longjing tea poured on the hillside where it grows. The golf is the strongest in mainland China: two decades of world-tour golf at Sheshan International, Fuchun's fairways laid through a tea-terraced river valley, and a wild links among the dunes of Chongming Island.

The Golf

Tournament turf, garden fairways, wild dunes.

Three rounds, three different games — the strongest stretch of golf in mainland China, all within two hours of the Bund.

The grandstand and closing hole at Sheshan International during a world-tour event, Shanghai Tournament crowds ringing a green at Sheshan International, Shanghai A drive launched past the red world-championship sign on the 9th tee at Sheshan A player on a Sheshan fairway framed by pampas grass and the lake beyond Galleries filling the grandstands around the closing green at Sheshan International
Signature round
Sheshan Hill · Shanghai

Sheshan International

China's most famous course, and for two decades the host of its flagship world-tour event — the closing stretch around the old quarry has decided more champions than any other holes in Asia. A Nelson & Haworth parkland of mature camphors, sculpted bunkering and a château clubhouse, it is also a strictly private member's club. We arrange guest play on your behalf, with caddies and a long lunch on the terrace where the trophies are handed out.

Designer
Nelson & Haworth
Setting
Tournament parkland, quarry holes
Claim to fame
World Top 100 · host of a world-tour event
Pair with
The Bund, the old concessions, private dining
Fuchun Golf Club fairways and a Jiangnan-style resort mirrored in still water, Hangzhou A fairway at Fuchun Golf Club climbing toward hillside tea terraces, forested mountains beyond The pavilions of Fuchun Resort across still water, green hills rising behind Cloud and mist pouring over the mountains behind a bunkered green at Fuchun Golf Club Golfers walking a Fuchun fairway beneath terraced walls of Longjing tea The grey-tiled clubhouse at Fuchun Golf Club across the water behind a lakeside green Fairways at Fuchun Golf Club winding between terraced rows of Longjing tea in evening light
A painter's valley
Fuchun River Valley · Hangzhou

Fuchun Golf Club

Six hundred years ago the Fuchun valley inspired one of China's greatest paintings; today it holds the only course in Asia routed through the rolling hills of a tea plantation. Fairways sweep beneath terraced walls of Longjing tea, greens sit mirrored in still water below the resort's grey-tiled pavilions, and the mist comes and goes all morning. It is golf found nowhere else in the game — unhurried, quiet, and best followed by tea picked a few metres from the fairway.

Designer
Daniel Obermeyer
Setting
Tea-plantation hills — the only one of its kind in Asia
Best season
All year
Pair with
West Lake, Longjing tea, a night at the resort
A green glowing at sunset among native dunes at Yangtze Dunes Evening light over a fairway threading between sand dunes at Yangtze Dunes, Chongming Island An aerial view of a green ringed by dark native dunes at Yangtze Dunes Links holes winding through dunes and wetland at the mouth of the Yangtze
A wild links
Chongming Island · Shanghai

Yangtze Dunes

An hour from the Bund, on an island at the mouth of the Yangtze, lies the most surprising round in China — a true links running through native dunes and wetlands, shaped by the celebrated Australian firm OCM. Firm turf, river wind, blind shoulders and greens tucked into the sand: golf that feels closer to the Irish coast than to anything else in Asia, with the world's busiest shipping lane gliding past beyond the dunes.

Designer
OCM — Ogilvy, Cocking & Mead
Setting
Links through river dunes and wetland
Best season
All year
Pair with
A city day in Shanghai — links by morning, the Bund by night

A fourth round is easily woven in — Shanghai's private parkland clubs and the lake courses around Hangzhou are chosen for your dates and the season. We'll recommend the right pairing when we design your journey.

Bamboo steamers of xiaolongbao soup dumplings on a Shanghai table
After the Round

The day does not end at the 18th.

Shanghai eats like the great port city it has always been: bamboo steamers of xiaolongbao in the lanes, hairy crab in season, chef's tables hidden inside concession villas, and the best cellars in Asia. An hour south, Hangzhou answers at Jiangnan's gentler pace — West Lake fish, beggar's chicken, tea-smoked dishes served at tables on the water.

For golfers, the evening becomes the kind of dinner that makes the city feel personal — booked, briefed and waiting by the time you've putted out.

Signature Experiences

Jiangnan, arranged privately.

Built on relationships on the ground, set up for your party alone — never an excursion from a brochure.

The lit towers of Pudong rising over the Huangpu River at night, seen from the water
Shanghai · The Huangpu

The Bund by private yacht

Cast off at dusk with the river to yourselves — champagne on deck as a century of banking halls glides past one rail and the towers of Pudong the other.

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A traditional boat gliding across West Lake through morning greenery, Hangzhou
Hangzhou · West Lake

West Lake before the world wakes

A private boat at dawn, tea poured on the water, the pagodas still wrapped in mist — the lake the poets meant.

See Details
Pickers with baskets working the terraced Longjing tea fields above Hangzhou
Hangzhou · Longjing Village

Pick the harvest yourself

Basket in hand, into the dragon-well terraces with a grower's family — pick the spring leaves, watch them roasted, then taste your own harvest on the hillside.

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The clock tower and domes of the Bund's heritage banking halls in golden evening light, Shanghai
Shanghai · The Old Concessions

The concessions, decoded

A private historian walks you through the plane-tree lanes of the French Concession and the banking halls of the Bund — a century of the city's story, building by building.

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These are a beginning, not a menu — tell us what your party loves and we'll find its Jiangnan equivalent.

Where You Stay

A skyline, then a lake.

Two addresses, two tempos — the city at full voltage, then Jiangnan calm.

Shanghai · On the BundWaldorf Astoria Shanghai on the Bund

Waldorf Astoria Shanghai on the Bund

Shanghai, China
Hangzhou · Fuchun ValleyThe pavilions of Fuchun Resort across still water, green hills rising behind

Fuchun Resort

Hangzhou, China

Prefer a tower over the skyline, the converted villas of the old concessions or a resort on West Lake itself? Alternatives, room categories and the level of comfort you choose are set out in your private proposal — every address booked entirely on your behalf.

Extend the Journey

Jiangnan is the hinge.

East China sits at the centre of every longer route — the capital to the north, the snow peaks to the southwest:

The Great Wall snaking over ridgelines at golden hour, north of Beijing
4.5 h by high-speed rail

Imperial China

The Forbidden City, golf beneath the Great Wall and its quietest ramparts all but to yourselves — the natural opening chapter.

Explore →
Naxi rooftops with Jade Dragon Snow Mountain glowing at sunset, Yunnan
3 h by air

South of the Clouds

Snow-mountain fairways, the Tea Horse Road and China at its most distinctive.

Explore →
Journeys Featuring Shanghai & Hangzhou

Where Jiangnan fits in a journey.

Shanghai and Hangzhou anchor the eastern leg of most of our routes — the elegant counterpoint to the capital's grandeur. Two sample journeys pass through; both are starting points, never scripts.

A palace-style clubhouse above bunkered fairways, misty hills behind
9 Nights · 4 Rounds

First-Time Golf China

Beijing + Shanghai + Hangzhou
Imperial China, Great Wall golf, Shanghai's wild links and a tea-plantation finale amid the quiet elegance of West Lake.
View Full Itinerary →
The Complete Route An oceanfront golf hole on the cliffs of Shanqin Bay, Hainan
16 Nights / 17 Days · 7–9 Rounds

The Grand China Golf Journey

Beijing + Hangzhou + Yunnan + Hainan
Open in the capital, finish on a tropical coast — the most complete way to experience Golf China.
View Full Itinerary →

Or build Jiangnan into your own.

Add days, swap rounds for culture, bring non-golfers — every journey is designed from scratch. Tell us about your party and we'll shape the route around you.

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