Lies at the middle between Shanghai and Suzhou, is an ancient town of Kunshan City, Jiangsu Province, with an area of half a square kilometer and a population of 20 thousand. It’s close and small enough for a quick day trip from Shanghai.
Zhouzhuang concentrates the beauty of China's water townships. Small bridges over running streams, black roofs above white walls, elegant windows with seashell decorations and cottages as beautiful as a painting. It is also noted for its profound cultural background, the well preserved ancient residential houses. This ancient town has a history of more than 900 years old with many houses built in the Ming and Qing Dynasties.
As a famous water town the most distinctive features is the water lanes. Zhouzhuang is Know as the "Venice of the Orient". The layout of the water lanes in Zhouzhuang is perfectly arranged so that it looks like the Chinese character “#”. These water lanes are the town's main roads, and the boat is the most common mode of transport here.
Many stone bridges are built over the water lanes, linking up the households on both sides of every stream. These stone bridges are very old, 14 of which were built respectively in the Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties. The most representative among them are the Twin Bridges, Fu’an Bridge, Zhenfeng Bridge and Fuhong Bridge, etc…
Twin Bridges : Built in Wanli era (1573 - 1619) of the Ming Dynasty, located at the northeast of the town, comprise Shide Bridge and Yongan Bridge are the most famous and is considered the symbol of Zhouzhuang. The Yinzi and Nanbei rivers cross the area, and the bridges are built in one in the direction of north-south and the other east-west, with one square and one round opening. Chen Yifei, a young artist residing in the U.S. created a picture of “Memories of Hometown” based on the Twin Bridge in 1984. The painting, with Chen’s other 37 works, were exhibited and bought by Dr. Armond Hammer, the chairman of Occidental Petroleum Corporation, and later presented to the late Deng Xiaoping. The painting was chosen to be the first-day cover of the United Nations' postage stamp in 1985.
Fu’an Bridge: Built in 1355 during the Yuan Dynasty, located at the eastern end of Zhongshi Jie. As the oldest bridge in the town, it has towers on all four corners. Each side has carved beams and painted rafters. People can now enjoy local foods and shopping in the towers.
Sixty percent out of one thousand or so residential houses in Zhouzhuang built during the Ming or Qing dynasty are well preserved. Two buildings in particular attract a lot of visitors.
Shen House: Built in 1742 and located at the southeast side of Fu’an Bridge, Shen House was the private property of the offspring of Shen Wansan, the first millionaire of Jiangnan (South of Yangtze River) in the early Qing Dynasty. It serves as an extraordinary example of how the rich lived during feudal China. The two-story mansion has more than 100 rooms and occupies an area of more than 2,000 square meters. On the first floor, the kitchen, family temple are located behind the halls which were used to receive guests or negotiate business. Upstairs are the bedrooms, decorated with furniture made during the Ming and Qing dynasties.
Zhang House: built during the Ming Dynasty by Xu's family and bought by Zhang's family in the early Qing Dynasty. Located to the south of the Twin Bridges, Zhang House has more than 70 rooms and takes up about 1,800 square meters .It is one of the few well-preserved mansions - Zhouzhuang's oldest mansion. One unique feature of this residence is a stream that runs through the backyard so that small boats can enter the house through its backyard.
