Ancient Chinese Water Town

Travel by Boat is Common Here

Today we drove to an ancient Chinese water town called Wuzhen.  It's in the same providence as Hangzhou from yesterday, Zhejiang providence (a bordering providence of Shanghai).  I say ancient because the ancestors of the current Wuzhen lived there during the New Stone Age 7,000 years ago.  Wuzhen as I saw it today was established in 872 A.D., a mere 1,100 years old.  

The Narrow Streets of Wuzhen

Wuzhen hasn't changed much in the last 1,000 years.  The total population is about 60,000; 12,000 of which are permanent residents.  The town is divided into four zones by a cross-shaped river and is the only ancient water town adjacent to the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal.  I spent my time wandering around the Wuzhen Xizha Scenic Zone (Wuzhen West Scenic Zone) and thoroughly enjoyed seeing old traditional Chinese life.

There are ancient residential houses, workshops, restaurants, pawnshops, weaving and dyeing establishments, all in brown wooden structures with stone bases.  Rivers and creeks intercross with flagstone streets in all directions and extend as far as one can see.  Arch bridges, stone railings, arched gates, large courtyards, narrow streets - it amazes me how well everything has withstood the test of time.  Sure parts have been rebuilt after fires and wars, but almost 82% of the town's total floor area has remained unchanged.

Koi are really interesting fish.  Perhaps not the most intelligent fish, but there is an area in Wuzhen West where once can buy fish food to feed the Koi.  They're so used to being fed that you can hold your hand over the water and the Koi will follow you along the bridge, their mouths gaping open, hoping you'll toss some food their way.  And if you buy the fish food and feed them they go crazy, pushing and fighting their way to the pellets.  

"Om nom nom" say the Koi

For lunch we ate at the Xuchang Paste Company and our fare was common people food (apparently I've been eating wealthy people food).  The dish I had was called Zha Jiang Mian (black bean sauce noodle) and it originates from Northern China.  My coworker EL had it a lot growing up in South Korea.  It's thick wheat noodles topped with ground pork stir-fried with zha jiang, a salty fermented soybean paste.  I wish this type of Chinese food was available in the United States.  

About to eat Zha Jiang Mian