How slow can you go?

Gaochun county in Jiangsu province is particularly alluring in spring when rapeseed fl owers are in full bloom. Chai Jijun / for China Daily

An obscure county in Jiangsu province is named the country's most leisurely city. Liu Zhihua reports.

Hardly anyone had heard of Gaochun county, located about an hour's drive outside of Jiangsu's provincial capital Nanjing, until it rapidly rose to fame for being the country's fi rst "slow city". Th e designation was awarded by Cittaslow, an international movement founded in Italy in 1999 to preserve leisurely lifestyles in small towns. Most locals hadn't heard the term "slow city" when Cittaslow's vice-president Angelo Vassallo visited Gaochun's Yaxi town. He was impressed by the natural beauty and relaxed pace of life, and "told us Yaxi perfectly fi t the slow city requirements", the local offi cial Zhang Tingsheng recalls.