Waterways of Zhou Zhuang 周庄

Zhou Zhuang has numerous waterway scattered across the town. The town is practically built on top of the water so it would be easier to keep the waterways instead of filling them up. As a result, Zhou Zhuang has become a delightful mix of water and land, which is typical of this region known to the Chinese as Jiangnan 江南 which means south of the Yangtze. The Chinese still use major land forms such as mountains and rivers to divide the country which I believe is a very classical way to doing geography. The best example is their use of the Yangtze River to divide the country into north and south. It should be noted that the Yangtze river varies greatly in latitude so it is not really very accurate.

Zhou Zhuang and Jiangsu province in particular straddles both sides of the Yangtze River and it is not clear if they are considered to belong the north or the south. I would think the would belong to the south since they don’t speak with the typical northern accent, then again, I’m no expert. The waterways of Zhou Zhuang penetrate throughout the town and at the same time connect it to the lake where it sits. The last time I was here, I managed to get a peek at the lake, somehow my friends didn’t get to see it. Apparently, the boat ride was more than enough for them.

[xmlgm {http://www.worldwanderings.net/kml/ZhouZhuang.kmz} zoom=19]