20250910 Wednesday, September 10, 2025. Dongtou, China

20250910 Wednesday, September 10, 2025. Dongtou, China

Dongtou is another coastal Island district off the mainland of China, but we are now in the East  China Sea, and not the South China Sea. Dongtou actually consists of ~300 islands, although only about a dozen are actually inhabited. There are seven bridges connecting the 8 main islands to the mainland. 

As in Pingtan, the Chinese government has been using land reclamation to expand Dongtou into what was once the sea. What were once sleepy fishing villages on the sea now appear like refugees tucked against hill sides or surrounded by tall building complexes linked by 4 lane boulevards with very little to no traffic. 

Most people seem to get around on scooters. Unlike in Beijing, many of these are still gasoline powered and accompanied by the noise, exhaust and heat.

There is still evidence of the fishing industry with trawlers and other fishing boats tied up in small bays and inlets.  There also appear to be a lot of traps being fished as there are dense collections of various improvised floats of various sizes and colors in shallow waters. These are probably crab pots but another industry here is growing seaweed. Sargassum Fusiformis or Hijiki is grown extensively around Dongtou. This is classically done on hemp nets staked in shallow tidal waters with bamboo posts. 

We boarded the first bus headed to our tour, which was to Wanghai tower. There is an over 1000 year history of there being a tower in this location with a panoramic view of the surrounding waters and islands. The current building is less than 20 years old but pays homage to the historical structure. It shaped like a big pagoda with 5 stories.

 
There was a choice between two included tours in Dongtou. The first was this tower, which promised panoramic views but would require scaling lots of stairs. The other option was a visit to a large Buddhist Temple on flat ground and few stairs. 

Today’s guide Rita explained as the bus was heading to the tower how you can think of Beijing as being the 60 year old matron of the family, Shenzhen is the 30 year old woman, and Xiamen is the 20 year old.  Dongtou is still very young and has potential, but hasn’t really developed her personality yet.  Rita told a funny story about her early tribulations with the English language during her time studying in the US.  During an early hotel stay, she called the front desk and asked for hookers to be sent up to her room, when what she really needed was hangers.  In another incident, she asked for directions to the subway, and was pointed to the sandwich shop instead of the Metro.  

When our bus arrived at the parking lot, it was evident that some climbing would be required because the parking lot was probably 150’ in elevation below the base of the Tower. Our guide did take us slowly and everyone in our bus was able to make the ascent to the base of the tower without too much difficulty, but just about everyone was glistening with sweat from the climb. 

We were greeted on the square in front of the tower by an amazing series of cultural performances. These started with an ensemble of women drummers who worked the drums with both arms while modulating the tones with the heel of one foot on the head of the drums. It was quite the powerful performance. 

Next, a troupe of women dancers carrying various sea creatures on poles did a precision dance weaving the sea creatures like schools of fish in the sea across the plaza. 

The final performance was an ensemble of men singing a melodic and rhythmic series of tunes that could have been a mashup of K-Pop, Rap and pop opera. 

We were then lead into the building to begin our tour in earnest. There is a large sculpture consisting of 3 sail like elements covered with shell lining scales paired with an eroded stone pillar.  This lobby occupies two of the exterior floors.  The stair cases are in the corners of the building and are narrow.  

It seemed like a lot of stairs and turns to get to the next floor which contained exhibits about the fishing history of Dongtou and fishing technology.  There were many models demonstrating the versatility of design to suit various roles.  One of the more interesting designs was for a very small mud boat, which was actually more of a sled for getting around mudflats where a man might just end up getting sucked into the quicksand like mud.  Fishermen used these almost like a kick scooter, keeping their weight and one knee inside the boat, and using the other leg like a paddle to scoot the boat forward in the mud.  With just a tiny bit of water, they could really scoot around the mudflats efficiently.  

The next floor was dedicated to exhibits on various customs and traditions surrounding holidays and celebrations through out the year and over the course of lives.  These included marriage, childbirth and seasonal festivals. 

The next floor had exhibits on music, art and folklore.  There are lots of stories incorporating animals of the sea interwoven with the folklore of coastal people.  There were also musical instruments on display and our guide Rita actually played a flute that was on display. 

The top floor was dedicated mostly to a walk around viewing platform.  There was a central lounge area with a gift shop selling tea and seaweed products, among other items.  

The view was truly panoramic and showcased just how many islands there were in Dongtou.  Unfortunately, weather had moved in lowering the visibility ceiling, and sprinkling a tiny bit on us.  Going down the stairs was much quicker and easier than going up.  

There were several pagodas and pavilions around the main tower including one with a huge bronze bell that is rung to bring good fortune to fishermen.

After returning to the ship, we grabbed a bite to eat at the pool side grill.  The pool area was much too hot and humid to be comfortable, but the staff were happy to bring our food to us from the grill to the World Cafe.  Janet had her first Viking cheeseburger of the trip, and gave the onion rings a big thumbs up.  Ben had Dan Dan noodles and chicken wings, which were also quite good.  

After lunch, Ben took the ship’s shuttle back into town to walk around the town’s central shopping district Zhongxin Street.  This was a pedestrian mall with a wide street and many shops, but there was also a large part of the area still being developed behind construction panels.  Off the main street were a few alleys with many tiny shops.  There were several featuring a sewing machine in the front.  Others had seemingly random collections of merchandise and a couple had a shop keeper dozing on a folding recliner lounge in the middle of the tiny shops.

We both took advantage of the thermal spa today.  Then we went to attend a lecture on ancient Chinese history, which was a brief overview of the dynasties and some of the pre dynastic figureheads including Confucius and a brief mention of the chaos of the 3 Kingdoms period between the Han and Tang dynasties.  

Next was a port talk for tomorrow’s destination of Zhoushan.  While Dongtou has 300 islands, Zhoushan is off the delta of the Yangtze River and is an archipelago of over 1400 islands and 3000 reefs. It is most famous for Mt Putuo, which is one of Buddhism’s 4 sacred mountains.  It is dedicated to Guanyin, the goddess of mercy and there are many temples, statues and caves related to her worship.  The included excursion is an evening outdoor multimedia show with Mt Putuo as the back drop.  

Dinner tonight was in Manfredi’s Italian Restaurant.  On Prior Viking cruises, there was always a chef chiseling away at a huge wheel of parmigiana near the restaurant entrance.  That was notably missing.  But the rest of the restaurant and meal were on cue for Manfredi’s.  We both had the fried shrimp and calamari appetizer and mushroom soup to start.  We also shared an appetizer that was fried dough balls filled with cheese and topped with prosciutto.  It was the first time we had ordered that, and we will probably order it again in the future.  Janet had chicken parmigiana and Ben had marinated lamb chops for the mains.  Both were delicious, but Janet’s chicken parmigiana was as big as her head, so she couldn’t finish it.  She could barely get a tiny scoop of gelato in for dessert.

We called it a night after dinner since we were nearly suffering food comas.  We look forward to sleeping in a bit tomorrow.