【正】After more than 2,000 years of history as a trading centre and commu-nications hub on the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal (first dug in the 5th century BC), Huai’an has acquired an air of old money and mellow leisure. It must be one of few small-sized cities where people are as happy to spend their leisure time in one of the dozens of open-air teahouses or restaurants by the water as in an air-conditioned shopping mall.