Changshu is weekend retreat for busy Shanghai residents

Shanghai's residents are increasingly spending their weekends in the more easy-paced neighboring city of Changshu in Jiangsu province, drawn to its fresh air, stunning mountains and delicious foods.

In Changshu, a visitor's typical day could begin with a breakfast of xun oil noodles at small restaurants that surround the Xingfu Temple, where locals tend to gather from 6 am. Xun is a gray-colored wild epiphytic fungus that grows at the foot of pine trees on Yushan Mountain that overlooks the city.

The locals gather the fungi mostly in spring or autumn and let the rains nourish them at other times.