Somewhere between Shanghai and Hangzhou you can find the small city of Wuzhen.
This small city still belongs to the province Zhejiang and can be reached from Hangzhou within one and a half hour.
While the city is appearing very modern and entrepreneurial by hosting a big annual internet conference, it is very famous for its ancient water town. Many people describe it as the Venice of China, see here why!
The scenic area in Wuzhen is seperated into 2 parts, the East and West area. During a class trip from my university I had the time to check out the East area of the city!
As in many other Chinese old towns, the whole area is surrounded, both by walls and fences. You will have to pay the entrance fee first before you can enter the area.
Inside, you will not only find a little labyrinth of old, Chinese houses, but also a network of channels. Directly at the entrance you can book yourself a boat so you can explore the area comfortably from the water side.
Since most other things to see are by foot though, we made our way through a small bamboo forest into the town.
The scenic area features several museums which are showing a lot about old Chinese customs or crafts. Especially the museum about the blue clothes which made the city very famous is very interesting.
Other than that, we recommend to stroll around the city and enjoy the beautiful scenery. Make sure not to come on peak time! It is a famous and often visited destination by both Chinese and foreign guests.
Many people often look down on ancient Chinese towns because a lot of them are very similar to each other.
While there are elements that are basically the same as in most other Chinese old towns, Wuzhen in my opinion stands out because of its unique channels, the beautiful scenery and the overall atmosphere. In my opinion Wuzhen is worth a visit, even if you saw a Chinese old town before.
I hope you found our short article about Wuzhen interesting! Leave a comment if you want to discuss and share and like our posts if you like them!
Other places you might want to visit when visiting Wuzhen:
1.Suzhou
2.Hangzhou
3.Shanghai
I love Wuzhen!
Thank you for sharing your impressions!
Best regards
Ulrike
Water towns like Wuzhen are definitely on my bucket-list after I finish exploring Southwest China. I’m curious, is there an entrance fee? How much is it?
I visited the town in an excursion from my university so I cant tell exactly from own experience.
As mentioned, the scenic area in Wuzhen is seperated in a east and west part and according to travelchina guide the east part costs 100 RMB, while the west part is 120 RMB. Ive only been in the east part.
Note that Wuzhen is not the only Watertown, there is also Suzhou for example. Wuzhen is great if you want to know about the skills and crafts the people there had.
In Suzhou, visiting the watertown is free and sets itself apart through its many gardens (they usually cost around 100 RMB)
I’ve heard about a lot of different “Venice of the East” towns in China. This one definitely looks nice, although personally I really enjoyed Suzhou. Very convenient to get to with a high-speed train that goes directly from Shanghai and it was a wonderful place to walk around during both the day and night time!
Thank you for your comment Josh.
Both Suzhou and Wuzhen are very beautiful and definitely worth a visit, while Suzhou is more of a cultural city (also in terms of botany), Wuzhen was more of a trading hub. You said you already saw Suzhou, but my article about the Suzhou actually explains the differences between the two of them in more detail, so it might be worth taking a look.