Water Town Zhujiajiao Zhouzhuang Tongli Shanghai Suzhou Attractions

Zhu Jia Jiao
Moderization is more and more taking place in Shanghai. Numerous buildings in Shanghai have been torn down and rebuilt. Old buildings are becoming very hard to find. People living in Shanghai are tired of skyscrapers. So some old towns around Shanghai have been very popular with tourists in recent years.
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There are quite a few old towns around Shanghai such as Tong Li (同里), Zhou Zhuang (周庄). Zhu Jia Jiao(朱家角) is the one closest to Shanghai among them. This town is said to have a history of more than a thousand years. People have been living here for a lot of generations. The buildings in this town could not be so old though. Old towns have only been popular for tourism in recent years. The buildings were mostly renovated so that the style of them could be unanimous: the style that tourists from cities like and want to see.

Zhou Zhuang
Zhouzhuang, a typical water town, is located in the southwestern part of Kunshan affiliated to Suzhou, at the junction of Shanghai and Kunshan. It is about 45 kilometres away from Suzhou, and about 100 kilometres away from Shanghai. Built in the year of 1086, it was named after the local - Mr. Zhou Digong who donated his land to repair the Quanfu Temple, while in the before it was called Zhen Feng Li (贞丰里).

Zhouzhuang enjoys its good reputation as "the first water town in China".

As one of the six great ancient towns in the south of the lower reaches of the Yangtze River, Zhouzhuang enjoys its good reputation as "the first water town in China". To some extent, it is on par with Venice in Italy, recounting its thousand-year history, displaying its gentle spirits, unique human landscapes and unsophisticated folk customs. Nowadays, it has become the gem of the orient and one of the most popular scenic spots for travelers to vacation and take their leisure.


Tong Li
Tongli in Jiangsu Province is one of the many ancient water towns in the south of the Yangtze River Delta, which are famous for their rivers, ancient bridges and house complexes. Tongli occupies an area of 51 square miles (133 square kilometers) with a population of 55,000. The city is separated by 15 rivers into seven islets, which are connected through 49 ancient bridges. Tongli, established in the Song Dynasty, has a history of over 1,000 years. It is very rich in cultural heritage. Traditional residences including gardens, houses and temples, built in the Ming Dynasty and Qing Dynasty, are the highlight of the city. Jiayin Hall built in 1922 is known for its fine carvings on the structure. Congben Hall built in 1911 is also known for its carvings on the structure. There are more than one hundred of well-preserved woodcarvings of traditional figures from Chinese classics.

In 2004, Tongli together with Zhouzhuang and Luzhi were listed in the tentative list for UNESCO World Heritage Sites. With the rapid modernization of China, large number of historical towns disappeared under the bulldozers, with only a handful of well preserved historical townships remaining today.