Wu Zhen's "Eight Views of Jiahe" has long been regarded as an important reinterpretation of the pictorial tradition of the "Eight Views of Xiaoxiang" in the fourteenth century. Its map-like representation has also attracted much scholarly attention. However, the implication of the concern with local culture, as reflected in Wu Zhen's own inscriptions on the painting, has not been fully explored. This essay proposes that local identity was in fact the nexus that integrated the creation of the scroll, the choice of texts and images, the design and arrangement of composition, and the conveyance of meanings and functions. This perspective not only helps to uncover the artist's intention in recording the local history of Jiahe through painting, but also reveals the embedded design of the scroll's composition as four interrelated water routes for touring his home town.