Day 2 – Morning of Wednesday 17 November 2010

I awoke in Wuzhen from my comfortable sleep in the huge bed and opened the curtains of my Tongan An Hotel bedroom to see the glorious outside water views. After a warm shower to wake up properly, and briefly viewing my first Chinese programs on the TV in the room, I enjoyed a delicious buffet breakfast in the restaurant.

We gathered outside for a wonderful walking tour of the old Wuzhen water town. Wuzhen, located in the south of the Yangtze River, has a history of more than 1,300 years. Many of the ancient residential houses, workshops, and stores still stand on the banks of the rivers and canals. The town needs to be experienced on foot or afloat on a wooden sampan, as no motorbikes or cars are permitted in the historical centre. A variety of goods can be purchased form the floating boat markets as in days gone by.  The boats gather in one market area and people can inspect the produce and buy

The Wuzhen Tourism Development Co Ltd. was formed in 1999 to develop Wuzhen as a major tourist destination in China. It has authentically restored many of the old buildings, and built new Club Houses and Hotels, such as the Tong An Hotel, in the style of the existing historical buildings. They have converted some of the original residences along the waterways as tourist accommodation villas and guest houses. More than 700 households still live in Wuzhen and practice traditional handicrafts. The children attend a local school.

Wuzhen features profound history and culture, water town scenery, unique foods, and colourful folk customs and festivals. There are now over 40 hectares of late 19^th century original buildings and more than 100 ancient stone bridges of various shapes crossing the waterways joining the many flagstone streets and laneways.

I got a glimpse of what it was like to live in ancient China whilst walking around. There are many lanes, bridges, nooks and crannies to explore. I wandered into former homes of wealthy merchants, clan meeting halls, a pottery workshop, an iron works, a Temple, a post office and several tea-houses and theatres.

Walking around I saw that tradition is still very much alive in Wuzhen., the time-honoured art of making indigo-dyed printed calico is still practised in Wuzhen. In ancient times, indigo-dyed printed calico was used for curtains, scarves, and tablecloths in every household in the countryside of Zhejiang Province. Today, it is still common to see old women in indigo-blue gowns leisurely operating spinning wheels or looms at weaving workshops in the old lanes of Wuzhen, while the squeaks of the looms resound throughout the lanes. Carrying on this tradition has become a part of the lives of the old women.

Many of the buildings are used for making or selling traditional Chinese items.  I saw soy sauce, lollies, rice wine, lanterns, wood carvings and sticky rice being made. I actually helped make the sticky rice for a short while – its hard work.

For the tourist Wuzhen is not free to enter, and therefore never really swarming with an overflow of people. Admission costs about AU$20 and includes a short sampan ride to the town proper. Once on dry land, there are no other admission fees to pay, which means visitors can enter all the scenic sites, buildings and exhibition halls. Unfortunately I only had a very short half day walking around Wuzhen and did not see the Flower-drum opera, shadow-puppet shows, martial arts demonstrations, pole climbing and temple fairs that are featured for visitors. Time ran out to see the Hundred Bed Museum, and the Foot Binding Museum. There are so many ancient docks, waterside pavilions, and corridors that stretch out for miles more time was needed to fully appreciate all the town’s features. There are suggested itineraries for 1, 2 or 3 day visits to Wuzhen as there is so much to see, explore and experience.

I enjoyed a lovely sampan boat ride back to the Tong An Hotel for a delectable Chinese banquet lunch in our private dining room with the other Australians and New Zealanders. We all then boarded another boat for a short ride to the entrance of Wuzhen water town to board our mini-bus for the drive to Shanghai. This was a wonderful introduction to Chinese traditional culture which made me look forward with much anticipation to the rest of my time in China.