Alleys of Zhou Zhuang 周庄

Deserted Alley in Zhou Zhuang 周庄

Deserted Alley in Zhou Zhuang 周庄

I once met a local Chinese who asked me which part of China I like, I told him that I was interested in the Southwest region where there are a lot of beautiful mountains. His answer was different, he told he preferred the mountains and water 山水 of the Jiangnan region. He was from Shanxi province and there was not a lot of water in his area. Sure there are a lot of mountains, but he claimed that there are a lot of beautiful mountains in China and they tend to look alike. Samples would be Huashan, Taishan and Huangshan. I would have to agree with him on those points, since those mountains, though beautiful, do tend to look alike. I do see his point though since mountains and water is not very common in China, this region has plenty of those.

Zhou Zhuang's Quaint Alleys

Zhou Zhuang's Quaint Alleys

Zhou Zhuang is one of the places where you can appreciate the water part of the mountains and water. There are no mountains in Zhou Zhuang although they have an abundance of ancient towns. These ancient towns have been carefully preserved or restored throughout the years and thus been made a major tourist attraction. The narrow alleys of Zhou Zhuang are quite commonly seen in ancient towns such as this one and they do make for a movie set like feel. I would have wanted to visit the other water towns, but maybe I should do that the next time I end up here in the Shanghai area. Our time was almost up here in Zhou Zhuang, my friends have already bought their souvenirs and it was time to go. It was a very short couple of hours in Zhou Zhuang, I really felt they should have spent more time here and maybe spend the night here.

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