The Top One thousand-year-old Town in Zhejiang Province, Acclaimed as “Venice in China”

The Top One thousand-year-old Town in Zhejiang Province, Acclaimed as “Venice in China”

Some people say that you may get drunk in the town of Wupeng by taking a sip of the rice wine. There are many ancient towns in Jiangnan. Today, I want to introduce you an ancient town named Dongpu, which is located in the western suburb of Shaoxing. Though being weathered, it has never been on the list of popular ancient towns. Setting foot on this land, I find there are rivers and lakes everywhere. It is not exaggerated to say that it is a town on water.

There is no Pub Street, which is quite different from other places. The old sit in leisure at the door of the house with palm-leaf fan at hand, paying no attention to the tourists passing by in hurry.

The town,traditional and reminiscent, is characterized by stone roads, stone bridges and rows of corridors which are built by the water. It is more peaceful than the ancient town Xitang and more humane than the ancient town Wuzhen.

It is said that the clean water makes the fine wine. The rice wine has been an indispensable part of the small town since the ancient time. The refinement of the skill over 2000 years leads people to deeply understand how to make the fine wine. Turning the water into the wine takes time and freezing weather. Just like our daily life, seemingly the wine-making process is not special, it is not that simple.

The ancient town retains a relatively complete style and texture of the water town of Ming and Qing Dynasties. The independent courtyards of closed type, hidden in the depth of the streets and lanes, are well protected. Houses in the town are built with white walls and black tiles  stone steps and stone door frames. Inside the house, rooms are structured in a progressive way and the number varies from three to nine. Being the most typical architecture among all the old houses in the town of Dongpu, Taimen has been acclaimed as “a bright pearl in the history of Chinese residence”.  

The long history results in the town’s particularly favourable cultural landscapes. It is the hometown of many historic figures such as Lu you, the patriotic poet and Xu Xilin, the martyr of the The revolution of 1911. Wupeng boats are busy on the Toulao River. The water leaves no trace, but people do.