Ancient Waterfront Towns of China - Part 3: Wuzhen Restaurant and Hotel Reviews

Wherever we travel, part of our ritual involves seeking a stay in the region's traditional dwellings, characteristic to the local area and nowhere else. In Kyoto it came in the form of a dilapidated wooden Machiya townhouse near Nijo Castle, and in Beijing it was a Siheyuan courtyard house on an inner-city Hutong alley. This time in the waterfront towns of Eastern China we wanted two different experiences -- a couple nights a in genuine Qing Dynasty mansion, and at least one in a traditional rowhouse by the water's edge, overlooking the passing boats along the 1000-year-old canal. Our first wish would have to wait until Xitang and Tongli, but our second wish would be satisfied in Wuzhen West.

Hotel Review: WUZHEN GUESTHOUSE (Wuzhen)
Address: Multiple houses on Xizha Dajie, Wuzhen Xizha Scenic Area
Price: Our room cost RMB 570, though double rooms started at RMB 340
Website/Map: See Official Site

First I have to warn that this was the second most expensive stay of our 17-day trip, next to the murderous hotel pricing at the peak of the Huangshan Mountain. But note what's already included in the price -- a free second day of sightseeing inside Wuzhen West before checking out. After all, nobody checked for tickets once we're in. Our Plan B would be to stay outside the paid-access zones and buy individual tickets for Wuzhen East and for Wuzhen West on two separate days, but we opted for the simpler plan and the better room, for a slightly higher overall price.



This was what we paid RMB 570 (CAD$90) for -- our own private balcony overhanging the ancient waters of the canal. Prices in the Guesthouses of Wuzhen West were standardized as follows at the time of our visit: RMB 340 for double rooms, RMB 470 for double rooms with a canal-facing window, and RMB 570 for these balcony rooms in limited quantities. In fact the quantities are so limited that booking sites such as CTrip and ELong do NOT offer these rooms. There are currently two known ways of booking these limited-quantity rooms: i) booking through Wuzhen's Chinese Site with either a Chinese-bank-issued credit card or a Chinese bank account, or ii) phoning Wuzhen's call centre at +86-573-8873-1088, which was how I ended up booking our room, with the advantage of not having to pre-pay until our arrival. If this is what you want, ask for a "1.5-metre Balcony Room for the Wuzhen Guesthouse" when you make the call.



The room itself was as comfy as you would expect of a B&B guestroom in Europe or in North America, with a soft mattress (which is somewhat rare in China), a western-style washroom and shower, and included excellent services such as the free luggage transfer by boat between Wuzhen West's main entrance lobby and the guesthouse. On the second day we were able to check out and hand our backpacks to the host, finish our sightseeing in town then take the free boat to the main entrance to meet our baggage.



The best part was our day was a few quiet hours of leaning against these balustrades, breathing the air of ancient Jiangnan and watching the flat-bottom boats glide past our balcony in the direction of the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal. It was this particular moment, and not our earlier time in Shanghai or Hangzhou, when I finally felt immersed into Eastern China.



It was a pleasure waking up to a generously portioned home-made breakfast of regional fare, including Stir-Fried Niangao rice cakes, a local version of glutinous rice pudding known as Dingshenggao, and the ubiquitous Youtiao donut. Eggs were made-to-order: one sunny side up, and one steamed salt-pickled duck egg for the two of us to share. The rice porridge was all-you-can-eat, and came with a myriad of pickled vegetables and peanuts as usual.

This was an easily recommendable hotel, especially for first-time visitors to China who don't want to risk too much culture shock. While room prices are on the medium-high end, one has to factor in the first-world amenities, cleanliness and service, in addition to an extra day of sightseeing inside Wuzhen West. While our next night in Xitang cost only RMB 150 in comparison, we had no regrets spending RMB 570 here at Wuzhen Guesthouse.


RESTAURANT REVIEWS

While in Wuzhen we made our pilgrimage to a locally acclaimed hole-in-the-wall eatery, hidden in a side alley in the non-touristy part of town.

In fact the applauds from Chinese gourmands were so numerous and fervent that the existence of this eatery was partially why I looked forward to Wuzhen so much. As it turned out, the locals knew their stuff, and this meal turned out to be one of the most memorable of our 17-day trip.

This is likely the first ever English review of this eatery -- I searched everywhere before our trip but couldn't find any guidance in English. I hope this review will help more fellow travelers locate this authentic little gem.

Food Review: XIANGXIANG FANDIAN (Wuzhen)
Address: Guanhou Jie 40, Wuzhen
Hours: 11:00 – 21:00 (unofficial; based on observation)
Website/Map: Official Site (in Chinese)
Directions: Start from the Open-air Opera Stage just outside the paid-access zone of Wuzhen East. Walk north along the north-south street for one block and turn right onto Guanhou Jie. Xiangxiang is a little down the street on the right hand side.



I would never have found this decrepit shack of a restaurant without going out of our way to search for it. And even if we somehow came across this place by chance, I would never have dared to venture in without having previously seen recommendations on the Chinese side of the Internet. You can't ask for a more authentic mom-and-pop joint -- this one is sandwiched between a vacant closed-down store and an 8 Yuan barber shop.



What's the magic ingredient here that has all the local reviewers raving? Simmering underneath that mesh food cover at the storefront was the pride of Wuzhen, the local recipe of Red Braised Lamb (Hongshao Yangrou) made from a highly prized breed of local sheep, the salt-fed, marshland-raised Hu-Yang sheep. Yes, this is the Chinese equivalence of Agneau de Pre-Sale.

If you're wondering just how long this giant vat of lamb had been simmering for, you'd be wiser not to ask. Much like the soup-marinade in Hong Kong's Chu-Hau Beef Tripe or Xi'an's Lamb Pao Mo, the glittery dark sauce at the best street-side eateries are often as old as the shops themselves, never thrown away but only incrementally enhanced with the daily addition of fresh meat and herbs. No local gourmand would disagree: the older the sauce, the deeper the flavor.



Walk into the shop and you immerse even deeper into authentic rural China -- tables stashed sideways, trays of drying dishes stacked waist-high, and every patron quietly chowing down on the one dish that made this place famous. On first glance everything looks just like any other mom-and-pop eatery anywhere, except for photos of visits from Chinese TV celebrities and politicians plastering the walls.



Upon sitting down we spotted the first sign of top quality ingredients -- this intensely yellow, deeply flavored tea made from local Baby Chrysanthemums was actually the best and the strongest Chrysanthemum Tea either my wife or I had ever tasted. As far as I knew Baby Chrysanthemums, or Taiju as they're locally known, weren't cheap to begin with and required a more generous amount than most tea leaves to make a pot of the same size. This was a good sign: no matter how messy the shop might appear, the food was definitely for real.



Arriving first as a cold appetizer was a plate of Indian Aster with Dried Tofu (Xianggan Malan), a local favorite in the Lower Yangtze Delta. I thought it was the right dish to kick off the meal, as the slightly bitter Indian Aster is considered a "Yin" ingredient in Traditional Chinese Medicine terms and the perfect balance against the "Yang" ingredient in lamb and mutton. The taste was much like any Malantou I've had anywhere, with the same distinct, leafy flavor similar to Dandelion Greens in Mediterranean Cuisine. This would be my palate cleanser between mouthfuls of rich-tasting lamb.



Next up was an excellent dish which my wife called the best taro she had ever tasted. This Deep-Fried Taro with Scallion-Oil (Congyou Yunai) wasn't even on the written menu -- it was just recommended to us by the owner's wife as we visited during the taro season in early November. The sweetness of baby taro roots and the refreshing simplicity of scallions were combined into an addictively crunchy snack dish. You can see why local school kids aren't so hooked on French Fries like their Western counterparts, if they've got something this good waiting for them in their mom's kitchen.



Finally it was the one dish we'd been waiting for: Wuzhen's famous Red Braised Lamb. I'm sure this was what the Shanghainese had in mind when they coined the term Nongyou Chijiang, or literally Rich and Oily with Red Sauces. Inside the mysterious dark concoction was the perfect balance of Zhejiang's famous yellow wine and red cane sugar, dark soy sauce, a hint of hot chili pepper, and whatever secret ingredient the owner determined to best pair with his slow-braised Hu-Yang lamb.

I must first point out -- my wife generally does NOT eat lamb, shunning the meat for its strong gamey taste. But Wuzhen was so far from Canada that we might never return, and this hole-in-the-wall eatery was surrounded by such a mystique that she was curious enough to want to try it. However should it turn out overpoweringly gamey, I was prepared to order her something mild like a steamed fish.

She ended up finishing HALF of the lamb. Both of us agreed that it was the best lamb ever ... and this wasn't so long after I previously had my best lamb at Beijing's Hongyuan Hotpot. The flavor of that dark sauce was incredibly deep and complex from years upon years of compounding the essence of lamb bones and sinew, and the flesh was simply fall-off-the-bone tender. And the gameyness ... what gameyness? It was just like top quality beef only with a sweeter and more concentrated meaty flavor, and this was coming from my wife.

So our favorite memory of Wuzhen actually wasn't the idyllic boats cruising down the picturesque canals, but of a greasy, crumbling corner eatery serving up an impossibly great dish despite its unappealing appearance. Three months since leaving Wuzhen and I still can't find any motivation for cooking any lamb dishes. And how could I with my inferior cooking skills, after tasting the ultimate benchmark for how lamb is supposed to taste like?

Bill for Two Persons

Dried Tofu with Indian Aster	RMB 15
Deep-Fried Taro with Scallion-Oil	RMB 18
Red Braised Lamb	RMB 45
Rice x 2	RMB 2
TOTAL	RMB 80 (CAD$12.7)

That was my top restaurant recommendation for Wuzhen, particularly if you're visiting or staying at Wuzhen East. If you're staying on the Wuzhen West side however, we did come across a couple of places worth trying out.


Food Review: XIAOMAZI LUOBOSIBING (Wuzhen)
Address: Xizha Dajie, Wuzhen
Hours: 09:00 – 21:00 (unofficial; based on observation)
Website/Map: N/A
Directions: Go inside the paid-access area of Wuzhen West. Walk along the main street (Xizha Dajie) and locate Guesthouse 29 on the left side. This little stand is almost right next to it.


This is not a restaurant, but an informal street-food stand inside the paid-access area of Wuzhen West. Note that all prices inside Wuzhen West are centrally fixed, meaning that food prices can get relatively expensive. The distinction of a great tasting, relatively filling and cheap snack makes this place automatic recommendable from me, especially if you're planning to last until exiting the over-priced Wuzhen West for that proper dinner.



The stand sells one and only one item -- the Luobosi Bing, or Deep-Fried Shredded Radish Patty. White Daikon radishes are freshly shredded in house, seasoned and pressed into an oval shape similar to a McDonald's hash brown, then deep fried to an alluring golden brown in front of your eyes. Expect line-ups starting from mid-morning and lasting till dinner time, as every visitor to Wuzhen West gets tempted by the alluring aroma from its deep-fryer, carried down the street for at least half a block.



While it's certainly not the healthiest of snacks, few could resist this greasy but filling bite of crispy and savory radish. The price of RMB 5 is a relative bargain, considering that the next cheapest fare is probably a bowl of Noodles with Lamb for RMB 25. For us this was the perfect light snack, before checking out and embarking towards the next ancient town on our route.

Bill for Two Persons

Deep-Fried Shredded Radish Patty

RMB 5

Few options exist when it comes to cheap(er) options for sit-down dinners inside Wuzhen West, where food prices are all centrally fixed. There is the Hu-Yang Noodle House, where a simple bowl of Noodles with Lamb cost around RMB 25. There are also the different Guesthouses along the main street, most of which offer a menu of regional dishes from their own family kitchens. But then again prices for all standard dishes are centrally fixed, and we didn't come across any bargains.

Food Review: JIN'AN SIFANGCAI (Wuzhen)
Address: Xizha Dajie 239, Wuzhen
Hours: 12:00 – 21:00 (unofficial; based on observation)
Website/Map: N/A
Directions: Go inside the paid-access area of Wuzhen West. Walk along the main street (Xizha Dajie) and locate the Splendid Clubhouse on the right side. Jin'an Sifangcai is on the left, across from the clubhouse.


We followed recommendations from a bunch of Chinese travelers and ended up at Jin'an Sifangcai ... which was in fact NOT a Sifangcai (ie. private clubhouse) despite its name. This was the restaurant of the Splendid Clubhouse hotel, occupying a stretch of the canal shoreline beside one of the town's quaint stone bridges. The place probably has a good reputation among domestic tourists, as it was popular enough that we had to wait 15 minutes for a dinner table on a weeknight in the off-season.



Comfort food seemed to be the main theme here -- forget convoluted restaurant inventions like Eight-Treasure Stuffed Duck and think simple home-cooking that you may find in a local mom's kitchen. Our order of Grandma's Tossed Cabbages came drizzled with oil and soy sauce, uncomplicated flavors that has worked well over the past couple of millennia.



This Simmered Young Rooster with Hairy Taro (Mao Yunai Du Xiaogongji) was our second taro dish of the day, after the excellent deep-fried version at Xiangxiang earlier for lunch. Again the combination was simple and homey, though I have to say a little bland and unremarkable.



The best dish of the meal was probably this Braised Beef Tendons with Wild Shiitake Mushrooms (Yexianggu Shaoniujin). The tendons had become deliciously soft and gelatinous after hours of slow-simmering, and the baby Shiitake did give off that wild, woody flavor found only in the non-farm produced variety. While it may look glittering and oily from the picture, it actually wasn't too heavy considering that we were already prepared for our next dish.



We ordered a tub of Mixed Rice with LARD. Yes, as in refined pork fat, which has become a rare ingredient these days in metropolitan China. Though it may sound unhealthy, the fat was only lightly drizzled and mixed into the rice, which in effect prevented the individual grains from clumping together just like fried rice. The flavor of lard wasn't as notable as I thought, but then everything else was probably cooked in some lard already.

This place wasn't bad as a restaurant overall -- it just paled in comparison to the amazing food at Xiangxiang we had earlier that day for nearly half its price. But this was for a four-course dinner inside the posh resort of Wuzhen West, in a much cleaner and more charming restaurant overlooking the romantic canal at nightfall. These are two completely different sets of clientele I guess, aside from curious foodies like us.

Bill for Two Persons

Simmered Young Rooster with Hairy Taro	RMB 45
Braised Beef Tendons with Wild Shiitake Mushrooms	RMB 58
Grandma's Hand-Tossed Cabbages	RMB 22
Mixed Rice with Lard	RMB 22
TOTAL	RMB 147 (CAD$23.3)

Ancient Waterfront Towns of China - Part 2: Wuzhen East

This is the second article of a series on our mini-trip through the ancient waterfront towns of Eastern China, town-hopping across the marshland country between Hangzhou and Suzhou. While we chose to stay our first night in the posh and photogenic Wuzhen West, we spent a half day at the authentically charming Wuzhen East.



The contrast was stark and bittersweet for anyone with even the slightest appreciation of traditional culture and lifestyle. While Wuzhen West might be picture-perfect, it had also been reduced to not much more than a hollow community of transient inn-keepers. Wuzhen East on the other hand remained a living, breathing ancient section of town, with descendents of the original clans living and working out of their ancestral houses overhanging the narrow canal.



What exactly happened to two opposite sides of the same town over the past 20 years? It would be long story of contemporary Chinese politics, but simply ...

... Wuzhen East maintained its cluttered townscape with a harmonious compromise with its original inhabitants.

... Wuzhen West achieved a harmonious townscape with its ruthless eviction of its original inhabitants.



These are two completely opposite models of tourism development, each with its own supporters and critics. Every ancient town with the aspiration of becoming the next Wuzhen looks up to its success and chooses one of two paths: either kick out the original residents forever and refurbish the town into a gentrified resort, or work with the residents towards a symbiotic relationship benefiting both the developer and the townsfolk. Xitang went down the same road as Wuzhen East, as did Tongli. Lili however may be going the direction of Wuzhen West. By now you’ve probably noticed my preference.



No sympathetic traveler would wish to see the uprooting of peasant families, many having settled in since the medieval ages, for the convenience and comfort of modern day tourists. That’s why Wuzhen East came as such a welcomed relief for me, just to see the locals carrying on their daily routine, hand-washing clothes in the canal or shouting down the cobblestone street to the next neighbor. What should be everyday scenes in these timeless little towns ... I suddenly realized that they’re not to be taken for granted.



But the erosion of this traditional lifestyle had begun way before the arrival of mass tourism. For most of the past 1300 years or so, the town of Wuzhen had functioned as a trading hub along the local section of the Grand Canal, ancient China’s 1800 km economic lifeline stretching from Hangzhou to Beijing. Even today Wuzhen remains accessible by the Grand Canal, its entry point located at the northwestern section of town, next to the White Lotus Pagoda.



For a millennium there were no roads, only crisscrossing riverways and canals interconnecting these secluded settlements dotting the enormous marshlands that stretched from the Qiantang River to the Yangtze. Hence the saying "Boats in the South; Horses in the North" -- wheels were utterly useless in these swampy flatlands, as you simply couldn’t get around without a trusty flat-bottom boat ... and an experienced navigator.



Even in the late 1990’s Wuzhen remained cut-off from the rest of the world in terms of land traffic, and making a trip to the big cities would involve boarding the twice daily Su-Hang Ban, a motor ferry making the 12-hour run between Suzhou and Hangzhou. One can imagine growing up in such a time, when every house along the river had its private mooring and every child learned to operate a boat with the traditional sculling-oar.



But just like the rest of the Yangtze Delta, the great marshland was gradually filled in, highways were completed, and old trading towns like Wuzhen became marginalized to the outskirts of the Planned Economy. Tourism has since become the main industry, except with most of the revenue going to the developer and relatively little funneling down to the townsfolk, still proudly holed up in their beautifully crooked houses.



Two long, picturesque streets flanking the canal are all that remains of Wuzhen East, having been turned into a paid-access area under constant siege by the multi-national armies of tourists. Receiving very little subsidy from the developer in return for exploiting the beauty of their ancestral homes, the locals subsist on what locals do at any tourist destination -- selling souvenirs at the storefront and operating guesthouses at the back. Simple rooms go for around RMB 120 per night, a significant discount compared to the fixed prices at Wuzhen West.



From the dilapidating condition of the privately owned houses though, one would surmise that the townsfolk aren’t doing so well financially despite the 10,000+ visitors passing through on a daily basis. Most of the younger generation has moved on to seek opportunities in the booming metropolises of the Shanghai-Nanjing-Hangzhou triangle, and hardly any locals below the age of 50 remain.



While the transition to tourism had greatly altered the townscape and everyday life in general, it did help stave off a total extinction of the town’s traditional industries, some of which have simply become unprofitable in this age of automation and lack of socialist subsidies. Local housewives can be seen hand-stretching balls of raw silk into unimaginably thin meshes for duvet filling, while the elderly gentlemen worked in the fabric workshop down the street.



The art of indigo-dyeing is one of those traditional handicrafts barely surviving into the 21st Century, its niche cornered by machine-made imitations as well as unforgiving fashion trends. While it’s interesting to watch the old master transferring his soy-bean-and-plaster mixture out of the printing block into a motif pattern, the prices of his proud creation was probably a little expensive for most domestic tourists. With the relegation of this art form to a demonstration rather than a profitable industrial production, it’s sad to imagine the fate of his trade after the old master passes on.



Equally threatened are the trade secrets at Wuzhen’s hand-made wine distillery, the only one surviving out of the original 20 during the town’s Ming Dynasty heyday. Even though the winery has become an obligatory stop for all tour groups, thanks in part to the free wine-tasting offerings, very few visitors are actually seen purchasing the winery's claim to fame -- its deadly potent, double-distilled Sanbai liquor. I did take a sip of their version of Glutinous Rice Wine, and found the flavor a little too ... hmmm ... full of character for my liking.



While the centuries-old main street remains home to more than 300 resident families, the best-preserved houses have been converted into public museums. Stunning examples of folk art go on display at the Museum of 100 Beds, where Ming- and Qing-Dynasty beds reached the height of grandiose in terms of artistry and functionality, including built-in dressing chambers and toilet partitions.



Other notable exhibits include an impressive pawn shop, a medieval fire department, an open-air opera theater, and an apothecary all dating from the Qing Dynasty. To domestic Chinese tourists though the most famous sight is the former school and residence of literary great Mao Dun, Wuzhen's favorite son.



It wasn't until leaving when I realized Wuzhen's similarity to another beautiful antiquated town 2000 km away in another civilization: the town of Magome-juku on the ancient Nakasendo Highway in Central Japan. Both towns once thrived as intermediate stops along their respective ancient trade routes, both are well-celebrated as the birthplaces of literary greats in their respective languages, and both have been successfully preserved as the most picturesque examples of historic towns in their own countries.



If only Wuzhen could catch up in terms of its connection to neighboring historic towns, in the same way that travelers can easily travel from Magome-juku to Tsumago-juku, it would make easier a wonderfully romantic journey across the marshlands. Until then, the shared taxi remained our most reliable option to reach the next waterfront town of our mini-trip, the 1000-year-old town of Xitang.

Ancient Waterfront Towns of China - Part 1: Wuzhen West

This is the first of a series on a very special mini-trip within our 17-day self-guided tour of Eastern China. For a magical 4 nights we settled into Eastern China’s ancient waterfront towns, living in Ming- and Qing-Dynasty scholar’s mansions, meeting the 20+ generation descendents of the original patriarchs, and tasted the centuries-old recipes of local yellow wine.



This beautiful cultural landscape is as essential to the Chinese as Tuscan hill towns are to the Italians in my opinion, and I wanted to give it proper justice with a deliberately slow trip. While the majority of tourists rush through just ONE of these towns in a short 2 hours, we visited FIVE towns over the course of four leisurely days. If you’re looking to compare Wuzhen vs. Xitang vs. Tongli vs. lesser known towns for your upcoming trip, hopefully this series of articles will give you a visual overview.

Now where do I begin?



The story started in the mid 1990’s when my father took an overseas assignment to work in Shanghai. That was when I first heard about these famously beautiful, but difficult-to-reach enclaves in the historic region of Jiangnan, or South of the Yangtze River. Back then these towns were but chains of ancient human settlements inter-connected by canals within a giant marshland, not unlike Tokyo in the early 1600’s, before the government gathered enough willpower to undertake a massive transformation of swamps into dryland.



That was only a generation ago when my father talked about visiting these towns in an era without paved roads, let alone high-speed rails, crossing these marshes. The only means of reliable transportation then, much like the previous 1000 years, was by the indigenous flat-bottom boats. Some were fitted with motors to serve the same function as modern buses, while others were hand-oared for short river crossings.



You can imagine each town as an island within a chain of archipelago, stretching along the general direction of the Grand Canal connecting nearby Hangzhou all the way to Beijing, 1,300 km away in the north. For more than a millennium towns like Wuzhen served as local trading hubs along this lucrative mercantile route, shipping the silk brocades and mellow glutinous rice wine of the cultured south to the great Imperial capital. Even in modern times the Grand Canal remains the most economical means for mass transportation of goods, say refined coal from faraway Shandong into Hangzhou.



Fast forward 20 years when my wife and I planned our own trip into this ancient land, aided by the ease of reliable roads and high-speed rail. The once boundless marshland is well on its way to be completely and ruthlessly gobbled up by the rapid industrialization of the Yangtze Delta, draining fishponds for residential projects and creating grids of modern roads through formerly untouched countryside. Our ancient towns remain islands in their own way, no longer separated by marshes, but by the encroaching modernization of ugly modern townships and real estate developments.



So we studied the map to pick our preferred towns to visit. While we’re aware of the so-called Six Ancient Towns of Jiangnan Region often promoted on domestic Chinese brochures, we’ve seen enough examples of how remarkable destinations can get screwed over by planned, mass tourism (see our trip to Wutaishan for instance). At the end we decided to link together several of the best-preserved (but also most-developed) towns, along with opportunities to visit a couple of undeveloped towns in their authentic pre-tourism state.



The trip-planning turned out to be NOT so easy. While visiting just one town would have been straight forward, linking together four or five became quite a challenge as direct, tourist-friendly transportation between towns do not currently exist. There is no direct bus from Wuzhen to Xitang, or from Xitang to Zhouzhuang or Tongli for instance. While there is a nameless bus connecting from Tongli in the direction of Zhouzhuang, the bus wouldn’t even list Zhouzhuang as a destination since the towns see each other as direct competitors for tourism cash.



Starting out from Hangzhou and ending at Suzhou, our itinerary for the 4-night mini-trip was:

- Hangzhou Train Station to Wuzhen (high-speed train to Tongxiang, then local bus K282)
- Wuzhen to Xitang (shared taxi with the locals)
- Xitang to Luxu / Lili (both being undeveloped towns, by private taxi)
- Luxu / Lili to Tongli (continuing with the same private taxi)
- Tongli to Suzhou Train Station (local bus)



Thus began our journey into the canal-lined landscape of northern Zhejiang’s countryside, our first stop being arguably the most famous waterfront town of all. Wuzhen was among the first of these ancient towns to be developed for modern tourism at the turn of the millennium, and knowing how most Chinese tourism projects tend to end, we came with unflattering preconceptions, half-expecting to squeeze through crowded alleys full of rowdy domestic tourists and actors in ridiculous period costumes.



Even prior to arrival I was faced with a dilemma for our overnight stay. The ancient sections of Wuzhen were partitioned into two separately enclosed areas, both accessible through one combined admission ticket. Guesthouses operated by local peasants at Wuzhen East were simple and cheap (RMB 120 for a double room, or 250 with a canal-facing balcony), but requiring more tickets at RMB 100 per head for the second day’s sightseeing. Corporately-owned guesthouses at Wuzhen West were operated as more of a private resort (RMB 340 for a double, or 570 with a canal-facing balcony), but included breakfasts and the privilege of sightseeing on the second day. With plans to maximize the second morning for sightseeing, we took the RMB 570 room with the balcony at Wuzhen West, hoping that they hadn’t entirely destroyed all traces of the old lifestyle yet.



To be fair, Wuzhen West is never about untouched authenticity -- otherwise we wouldn’t have to travel to remote locales like Dangjiacun and Northern Wuyuan. Yes the town has successfully preserved its genuine Qing Dynasty architecture and townplan, but there should be no deception about how the government kicked the entire town’s original inhabitants out of their homes, citing that it was officially government land, then gave the land over to a private developer to convert into a money-making resort.



What Wuzhen West is about, is the picture-perfect quality of a carefully manicured corner of old China, combining the romance of its centuries-old arched bridges with the gentrified cleanliness expected of a first-world tourist destination. Nowhere will you see any overhead powerlines or satellite dishes -- the billion-yuan facelift had buried all signs of modern civilization into conduits beneath the cover of smooth cobblestone alleys.



Today the community appears alive and inhabited again on first glance, with the oily smoke from the deep-frying of Youtiao rising out of kitchen windows and its narrow alleys swarming with locals carrying out their morning routines at daybreak. The original inhabitants are long gone however, replaced by inn-keepers hired by the developer to live their temporary lives in the old-new town, operating its dozens of centrally managed guesthouses.



All visitors are ferried into town by traditional river punts, still hand-propelled by bamboo poles after all these years. Is this an authentic experience? Yes and no -- the flat-bottomed punts are still hand-crafted here in an old-fashioned drydock, thus allowing master shipbuilders to pass on their ancient trade to yet another generation. Most punters though were probably company-trained employees rather than the navigators of the old canal system. Besides, in this part of China many of the navigators were traditionally female.



Just to the right of the landing was the simple drydock, positioned perhaps strategically for all visitors to appreciate the continuation of this millennia-old tradition. Though power tools have long replaced the old two-man saws, shipbuilders still assemble and finish their beloved creations by hand today, just like the generations before them. It was at this sight where my negative perception of Wuzhen West gradually started to change -- I was starting to see a working town with real workers aside from inn-keepers and waitresses, even though the workers now have to live just outside of town.



The next building down the street was occupied by an indigo dyeing workshop for fabric production, where elderly craftsmen could be seen hand-prepping popular floral motifs from the Qing Dynasty to be transferred onto rolls of cotton textiles. While much of the production is carried out nowadays for demonstration purposes, genuine hand-printed items from traditional head-scarves to queen-sized bedspreads can still be purchased, for about five times the price of their mass-produced counterparts.



There is a certain sadness of touring these workshops in a protected environment as dying art forms, not dissimilar to seeing a white rhino in captivity. While we visited the soy sauce workshop I didn’t see anyone paying RMB 25 for a small bottle of hand-crafted soy sauce. To be honest the sauce didn’t impress me either, as I expected a deeper and more complex flavor out of a hand-made product. However there shouldn’t be any lack of consumers though, as the workshop also supplies its sauces to all the restaurants and guesthouses in Wuzhen West.



The town is dotted with a few small museums, the absolute best being the fascinating and yet grotesque displays at the Museum of 3-Inch Golden Lotus, dedicated to the (fortunately) extinct practice of foot binding. Fast walkers could breeze through the entire town in a few hours, though most visitors would at least stay until sunset for the popular light-up.



Widely reputed to possess the best night scenery among its peers, Wuzhen West grows noticeably more crowded towards the early evening when all of its arched footbridges become densely packed with camera-toting tourists. By 20:00 much of the crowd seems to gravitate towards the live music bars at the far end of town though, making for quite a relaxing after-dinner stroll along the banks of the canals.



One really cool activity on clear evenings is to get cozy on the wood-planked seats at the open-air theatre in the village square, watching black-and-white communist war epics played out of a creaking 16mm film projector on its flimsy tripod. It’s back to the good old 1950’s, before the Great Leap Forward and the next couple of decades too painful for those old enough to remember.



So I finally made it here, almost 20 years after hearing about these places from my father. Gone forever is that old crumbling townscape, teeming with locals livings in their ancestral houses. Wuzhen West is now considered one of the most successful models of planned mass tourism, built upon the ruthless cleansing of the original townsfolk and benefitting from the burgeoning middle class of the Yangtze Delta. I would have loved to arrive on a wobbly flat-bottom boat instead of the new high-speed train, but then, I was probably born 20 years too late.



TRANSPORTATION

While there are direct buses departing Shanghai’s Long Distance Bus Station and Hangzhou’s Jiubao Bus Station for Wuzhen, the more reliable and comfortable way is to simply take the high-speed train to Tongxiang, then follow the crowd of locals to take bus K282 just outside of the train station. In fact the combined price of the high-speed rail plus K282 is exactly the same as the long distance bus. The whole trip from Hangzhou to Wuzhen should take less than 90 minutes including transfers. If you’re coming from Suzhou however, your best bet is still the infrequent long distance bus from the Suzhou South Bus Station, also taking about 90 minutes.



Once arriving at the Wuzhen Bus Station (either by the long distance bus or the K282), the K350 minibus just outside the station whisks passengers to both Wuzhen East and Wuzhen West for a cheap RMB 1. We actually utilized the K350 a few times as a shuttle between Wuzhen West, Wuzhen East and the main part of town in between. Ignore the slow and wobbly 3-wheeled motorcycle taxis, unless you wish to pay the RMB 10 instead.



If you wish to do a little town-hopping like we did, the ancient town of Xitang is about 45 minutes to the east by shared taxi. This is actually the recommended mode of transport even for the locals, as one of our fellow riders on the taxi was a young guy who worked right here in Wuzhen. Public transportation isn’t impossible, but it involves 3 separate transfers on a long and convoluted route and is not recommended even for Chinese-speakers (leave me a message if you’re really determined). As for late 2012, the shared taxi cost RMB 60 per person in a taxi of 4.



ACCOMMODATION

The main advantage of overnighting within Wuzhen West is the right to stay for a second day’s sightseeing until you’re willing to exit the paid zone. After all, nobody checks your ticket once you’re in. This may be especially tempting for photographers wishing to capture the town’s quiet side in the early morning.



The cheapest bunk beds go for about RMB 80 at the Ziteng Youth Hostel, which also offers cheap double rooms with shared bathrooms. 2-star guesthouses offers better double rooms equipped with en suite western-style shower and toilets, starting at around RMB 340 during our visit. At RMB 470 the room upgrades to one with windows opening to the canal, and at the price of RMB 570 we reserved a room with its own private deck, perfect for a beer while watching the flat-bottom boats cruise by. The above photo was exactly the view from our deck, taken in the early morning.

A more thorough review of our hotel will be posted in an upcoming article.



RESTAURANTS

Based on other travelers’ recommendations we did pick out one well-reviewed restaurant within Wuzhen West, which turned out not quite as good compared to an excellent mom-and-pop eatery near Wuzhen East. Please see the upcoming article dedicated to Food and Hotel Reviews.