Zhou-zhuang - A Watertown near Shanghai

David Yang, August 2006

In China many people say if there is only one water town to visit, it must be Zhou-zhuang of Jiang-su province. You may not agree but it is true that Zhou-zhuang was the first town in China developed for tourism, dating back to as early as 1987. That is why ZHou-zhuang was ranked No.1 Chinese watertown, not because it is the best but because it was the first.

In 1985 an artist named Chen Yi-fei came to Zhou-zhuang. The Two Bridges, one of his famous paintings was drawn here and was later complimented away to the United Nations.  People begun to realize the beauty of Chinese water town. The Zhou-zhuang people set up a stele after his tragic death in 2005 to memorize him. Mr Chen well deserves a big stele as his paintings have generated a huge amount of tourism money for the town. The entrance charge is now a hefty RMB100 per head. Guess how many tourists visited Zhou-zhuang in 2005?

The answer is 5 million. Imagine a small village had 15 thousand visitors a day. It's a nightmare for photographers. There are just too much people, pushing over each other in the very confined alleys . Fortunately most of them are just here for a day tour. So if you want to get good photos, stay at least one night as I did. Get up early for the sunrise, go back late for the sundown, and rest at ease for the noon, you won't be disappointed.

Zhou-zhuang by night, Jiang-su province. Photo ID: zhouzhuang004.

江苏周庄夜景。图片号：zhouzhuang004.

It's understandable that among a dozen of Chinese water towns Zhou-zhuang is the most commercialized. Souvenir shops are everywhere in town, most of them are run by non-local people. I am personally not interested in buying anything here as those articles can be bought in any Chinese tourism cities. Nothing particular.

One thing did concern me, the water quality of Zhou-zhuang.  Although the authority has made great effort to clean the water ( there are boatmen sweeping the watercourse all day ), the water is still pretty dirty. The river was almost non-flowing, feel like backwater. It's particularly so in the morning. So get ready for that. Otherwise Zhou-zhuang is a fine Chinese watertown.

The morning waterway, Zhou-zhuang. Photo ID: Shanghai726BW.

 周庄早上的河道。图片号：Shanghai726BW.

Last but not least, Zhou-zhuang belongs to Kun-shan of Jiang-su province, but it takes only a 2-hour bus ride to get here from Shanghai. That's why this Zhou-zhuang album was put in as part of my Shanghai image gallery. I hope you don't mind.

  Please click below thumbnails for total 52 images of Zhou-zhuang.

请点击以下小图看周庄的52张图片。