Xuzhou

By train

• Xuzhou railway stationXuzhou is a major rail hub - very easy to get to by train. It is three hours from Nanjing on an express train. Most importantly, it's the half-way point between Beijing and Shanghai on the Shanghai-Beijing train route. (On average, it's 8 hours to China's political capital and 8 hr to China's fashion and enterprise capital. However, the train speeds can vary from 2½ hr to 13 hr for the same distance depending on the type of train.)

Caution: Many foreigners wanting to travel to Xuzhou have accidentally bought tickets to Suzhou (苏州, near Shanghai) instead of Xuzhou because the names sound so similar - and possibly because so few foreigners go to Xuzhou by train. So, it is highly useful to show the Chinese characters of Xuzhou (徐州) in order to convince the ticket officer and to overcome the phonetic confusion.
Once you arrive at the Xuzhou Station (徐州站) located just east of downtown, ascend the steps, show your ticket and exit. Outside, there will be a KFC, a McDonald's and a line/queue of taxis on the left. There is also Xuzhou East Station (徐州东) located in the eastern outskirts, where you can take high speed trains.

• Xuzhou East railway stationThis is where the high-speed trains go. It is on the high-speed line from Beijing to Shanghai, and is also connected to the northwestern frontier and other destinations further west via the line to Xinjiang.

By plane

• Xuzhou Guanyin International AirportFlights from Singapore, Bangkok and many cities in China

A metro line has recently opened. It runs from the east to the west of the city, and stops at both railway stations. The urban buses are cheap, regular, and easy to figure out within the city. There are also minibuses that travel outside of the city to neighboring rural towns.

Walk the city and explore the old downtown neighborhoods. Narrow alleys and old 小区 (xiao qu) give access to hundred year old wet markets neighboring temporary encampments of migrant workers and traveling farmers, one room restaurants without menus (don't worry, they'll tell you what they've got, or you can glance at other tables), dog meat butchers, public toilets, backstreet whorehouses with eerie blue lights, arcades in scavenged brick huts with corrugated tin roofs.
Then, walk along the New Yellow River, a diverted portion of the river created by the floods of 1938, when Nationalist forces bombed dykes to stymie the Japanese (instead, they succeeded only in killing millions of their own country's farmers). You can have your fortune told, buy most kinds of medications (that are prescription-only in Western countries) and raw tobacco, get something good to eat, and catch small traveling musicians performing on traditional instruments.
After that, stroll into the downtown, identical in every Chinese city of this size, home to a KFC, department stores, and massive, empty squares.

• Xuzhou Museum

  phone: +86 516 8380-4412
  address: 118 Heping Road, Yunlong District (云龙区和平路118号)
  A museum about the history and culture of Xuzhou.

• Huaihai Campaign Memorial Museum

  phone: +86 516 8384-3254
  address: 2 Jiefang Road South, Quanshan District (泉山区解放南路2号)
  A museum about the Huaihai Campaign, a major military campaign during the Chinese Civil War. The museum is situated inside a large park.

• Guishan Han Dynasty Tombs

  phone: +86 516 8577-0107
  address: No. 3 Xiangwang Road North, Gulou District (鼓楼区襄王北路3号)
  These tombs contain the remains of Liu Zhu, the sixth ruler of the ancient principality of Chu, and his wife.

• Mausoleum of the Chu Prince

  phone: +86 516 83566263, +86 516 83167053
  address: 1 Bingmayong Road, Yunlong District (云龙区兵马俑路1号)
  Believed to be the final resting place of Liu Wu, the third prince of the ancient principality of Chu. This is Xuzhou's own miniature version of Xi'an's Terracotta Warriors. The site features three pavilions featuring the warriors (three foot tall statues) in various states of excavation. Replicas are also sold. (Most people in the city have never seen the site and are only vaguely familiar with it).

• Yunlong Lake

  phone: +86 516 8396 0925
  address: Quanshan District (徐州市泉山区)
  Large scenic lake in the city's southwest.

• Xuzhou Aquarium

  phone: +86 516 85715614, +86 516 85720520
  address: Huxin Island, Yunlong Lake, Quanshan District (徐州市泉山区云龙湖湖心岛)
  This is one of the largest aquariums in Asia. It contains hundreds of different aquatic species from all around the world.

• Xuzhou Botanical Gardens

  phone: +86 516 82166116
  address: 3 Pingshan Road, Gulou District (鼓楼区平山路3号)
  The Xuzhou Botanical Gardens were established in 2012 on the grounds of what used to be the Xuzhou Nursery. It covers an area of around 400,000 square metres and includes hundreds of different species of plants and trees, as well as some manmade streams and waterfalls.

• Ximatai

  phone: +86 516 83827740
  address: 1 Xiangwang Road, Hubu Hill, Yunlong District (云龙区户部山项王路1号)
  The Ximatai, which literally means the horse-training terrace, was built several centuries ago (probably during the Ming dynasty) to commemorate the warlord Xiang Yu, who is believed to have spectated horsemanship performance here during the 3rd century BC. Few remnants of the original structures survived by the 1950s. Most of what you see here now is a modern reconstruction in the 1980s. However, built on the top of the hill, Ximatai affords a fine view of the area: many local dignitaries and wealthy businessmen during Ming and Qing dynasties sited their residences around.

• Xuzhou Folk Museum

  phone: +86 516 83800265, +86 516 83805809, +86 516 83820966
  address: 2 Cuijia Lane, Hubu Hill, Yunlong District (云龙区户部山崔家巷2号)
  The Xuzhou Folk Museum occupies two historic courtyard houses on Hubu Hill, including the Zhai Family Compound and the Yu Family Compound. It contains exhibitions on various aspects of everyday life in China during the Ming and Qing dynasties. The body that operates the museum also manages and maintains several other historic houses in the area, all of which are accessible to the public.

• Xuzhou Concert Hall

  phone: +86 516 8561-3988
  address: No. 7 Binhu Park, Quanshan District

Diguo ji (地锅鸡) is a savoury combination of chicken, chillies and bread. It is exactly chicken cooked à la diguo which was a popular cookery among the fisherfolk of the Weishan Lake. They used a cauldron to boil the fish, and put the squashed doughs around the cauldron inside, thus they could have fish with bread. Now you can order its chicken version in most local restaurants. The half-singed bread is essential in this dish (or it would be common braised chicken). Dip it into the broth, which is the traditional thing to do.
Dog meat tacos on Heqing Lu, between Pengcheng Lu and Jie Fang Lu. There are two alleys leading off from Heqing Lu and you want the one closest to Pengcheng Lu. Quite easy to find. Look for a collection of skinned dog carcasses hung up on the corner, usually having the last bits of fur cleaned from them with a propane torch. The bread is amazing, cooked in a stone oven, a bit salty, a bit sweet, coated in sesame seeds. The dog meat is tender and flavorful and stringy, torn from a pile of bones in a big metal tray (you can't dog meat with a knife).
Sha tang. Everyone in Xuzhou knows the cute but fantasic story about the emperor tasting this soup and asking what the name was. The chef thought the emperor was calling it "What? soup," so he changed the name to that. It's a thick, mucilaginous soup full of eel, chicken meat (originally pheasant or other game meat), beans, and a ton of black pepper. The best place to cop it is Ma Shi Jie (马市街), a joint on Jie Fang Lu that's the city's recognized favorite sha tang place (there's also a branch on Heping Lu, near the church but popular opinion says it's just not as good). The soup here comes from a massive pot, as tall as the man ladling it out. Outside, you buy your dipping items: fried dumplings, salty fried dough, etc. The clientele is mainly ancient men that have been eating it for breakfast every day for fifty years and come equipped with their own bowls and spoons.

In this city, the people that go to nightclubs are crewcut and corrupt businessmen and massage parlor owners that hotbox the joint with fake Marlboros and drink Chivas by the gallon, while a pretty little prostitute perches on either side of them.
Armani is the classiest, the closest thing to a genuine nightclub. Beer for ¥30 (fake Corona for the same price), then bottles of Chivas whiskey. You've got the usual provincial Chinese city nightclub fare. Dance mixes of Mando-pop songs, men dirty dancing with each other, a few boys that dance in a glass cube behind the bar, lots of smoke, lots of fun. You will be encouraged to dance on top of things, remove your shirt, and join in, but watch out for prostitutes and gangsters. (Really, just the prostitutes of gangsters. You don't want to get a bottle of Heineken in the back of the head for being too friendly with one of the girls.)
All other clubs are near Armani. Check out Red Bar, S.O.S., Catwoman Bar and Virgin Bar. Those five are reasonably safe and alright and legit.
Taiwan Bar is near the downtown, at the intersection of Huai Hai Lu and Jie Fang Lu. It's dirty as hell and the most ideal place in the city to be offered drugs with your fruit platter. (Really, you are offered drugs from the moment you enter to the moment you leave). The clientele is sweaty, shirtless kids with a ton of tattoos and facial scars. You can sing karaoke in front of a crowd and buy cheap vodka, though. And the boss is always happy to see new people and the waitresses are effective in discouraging local thugs from offering you the powder-encrusted straw too many times.

Cheap hotels are everywhere. Most hotels in the city only run about ¥200 but they don't offer much more than the ¥80 joints near the train station. Remember, ask to look at the room before you agree to stay (just say, "kan kan", smile and check).

• Bayview Holiday Hotel

  phone: +86 516 85398888 (Main desk), +86 516 85398188 (Room reservations)
  address: 1-252 Huaihai Road West, Quanshan District (泉山区淮海西路252-1号)
  Four-star hotel.

• The Qube Hotel Xuzhou East

  phone: +86 516 61886777
  address: 21 Zhannan Road, Jiawang District (贾汪区站南路21号)
  Five-star hotel.

• Haiyi International Hotel Xuzhou

  phone: +86 516 83572999
  address: 50 Huancheng Road, Gulou District (徐州市鼓楼区环城路50号)
  Four-star hotel.