Zhujiajiao Ancient Town - Jiangnan Water Town

Duration: 1 day. Time: April. Per capita cost: 20 yuan. With whom: Friends. Activity: Cultural exploration, hiking, budget travel. Posted on May 4, 2020, at 13:41. In April 2020, we also visited the small bridges and flowing waters of Jiangnan water towns in Shanghai. The spring atmosphere is thick – Zhujiajiao Ancient Town. This is the top choice for tourists. We feel the tranquility of the water town among the blue bricks and white walls. Zhujiajiao Ancient Town is located in Qingpu District, Shanghai, close to Dianshan Lake Scenic Area. It is a typical ancient town in Jiangnan water towns. The waterways crisscross between the streets and alleys, and the environment is very elegant. There are scenic spots such as gardens and historical sites in the town, as well as many traditional specialty snacks and petty bourgeoisie shops. It is the top choice for visiting ancient towns around Shanghai. Zhujiajiao Ancient Town is not large. You can visit the ancient town on foot. A quick tour around takes about half a day. Zhujiajiao Ancient Town is also one of the four ancient towns in Shanghai and a famous historical and cultural town in China. It is a 4A-level scenic spot with great reputation and many tourists. It is located by Dianshan Lake in western suburbs of Shanghai, 48 kilometers from the city center. As early as more than 1,700 years ago, there were villages and markets here. The ancient town is characterized by small bridges, flowing waters, and people’s Jiangnan water towns and ancient towns of Ming and Qing dynasties. There are scenic spots such as North Street (the first street of Ming and Qing architecture), Fangsheng Bridge, and Zhuxiyuan. The delicious foods in Zhujiajiao include tied meat, meat-stuffed steamed dumplings, roasted green soybeans, braised pig’s knuckle, grandma’s zongzi, maltose, stinky tofu, etc. There are inns, bars, and cultural and creative parks in the ancient town. It feels overdeveloped. The popularity is extremely high. People on both sides of the ancient street are all engaged in business. The crowds are bustling and people are jostling each other. There are many foreign tourists. We take Metro Line 17 at Hongqiao Railway Station and get off at Zhujiajiao Station (about 40 minutes). After exiting the station, we walk. There is no need to buy tickets for the ancient town. You need to buy tickets for taking a boat and some scenic spots inside. This is Fangsheng Bridge. It is the landmark landscape of Zhujiajiao Ancient Town. Standing on the bridge, you can have a panoramic view of the entire water town. It is a good place for photography. Fangsheng Bridge spans the Caogang River and connects the north and south parts of Zhujiajiao scenic area. It is the longest, largest, and highest five-arched stone arch bridge in Shanghai. Standing on the top of the high arch and looking around, you can enjoy the large houses with white walls and black tiles and the wooden boats passing under the bridge. The entire ancient town is in full view. It is an excellent place for taking pictures. At sunset, enjoying the sunset on the bridge or taking pictures of Fangsheng Bridge under the sunset by the river is very artistic. As the name suggests, Fangsheng Bridge encourages people to do good deeds and accumulate virtue. This bridge was built in the fifth year of Longqing in the Ming Dynasty (1571). Monk Xingchao of Cimen Temple donated and built this stone arch bridge with his savings accumulated from fifteen years of begging for alms. And on the first and fifteenth day of each lunar month, monks and pilgrims will be organized to hold a’releasing aquatic animals’ conference under the bridge. This custom has been passed down to this day.
At present, vendors at the bridgehead often sell small fish or turtles for tourists to ‘experience’ releasing them, which appears quite commercialized. The present Release Life Bridge was reconstructed in the 17th year of the Jiaqing era of the Qing Dynasty (1812). The entire stone bridge is majestic, with dragon gates on it, carved with eight lifelike dragons. At the top of the bridge, there are four stone lions welcoming guests with their heads raised and mouths open, looking adorable. In the middle, there are bamboo-section-style railings, and the central part of the bridge surface is inlaid with carved stone slabs. To the east of the bridge, there is a pavilion with a stele where one can rest after walking, and there is a stone embankment built along the water for boats to dock. The cruise ship dock can accommodate about 10 people per boat, with a starting price of 180 yuan, and the estimated distance of the journey is about 500 meters. This is North Street, also known as ‘One Line Street’, acclaimed as ‘The First Street of Ming and Qing Dynasties in Shanghai’, which has a history of more than four hundred years, and spans a distance of more than two miles. The section from the Release Life Bridge in the east to Meizhou Alley in the west, which is more than three hundred meters long, is the most representative of the essence of Ming and Qing architecture. Here, old-style residences are closely arranged, with whitewashed walls and gray tiles in an orderly fashion. The narrow streets are winding and secluded, the stone paths are continuous and meandering, old and famous shops stand on both sides, presenting a picture of the ancient Jiangnan water town. The Quanhua Watercolor Art Museum is a non-profit private art museum approved and officially registered by the Shanghai Municipal Administration of Culture, Radio, Film and Television. It is currently the only place in our country that professionally collects and exhibits classic works of contemporary watercolor paintings. It has successively hosted solo exhibitions of more than ten famous contemporary Chinese watercolor painters such as Chen Xidan, Lei Yu, Wang Weixin, Zhou Gang, Gong Yu, and Yang Yihui, as well as watercolor painting nomination exhibitions and joint exhibitions of the Shanghai and Shenzhen Watercolor Associations. North Street is backed by the Caogang River and adjacent to the Release Life Bridge. As early as the initial formation of the ancient town, it was known for its convenient water and land transportation, attracting merchants to gather, and its trade was ‘the best in other towns’. Tea houses, restaurants, miscellaneous goods from the north and south, rice shops, and butcher shops, all kinds of businesses are complete, making it the oldest commercial center that has been thriving for a hundred years, and it is known as ‘a three-mile long street with a thousand shops’. Today, the street still preserves the century-old shop ‘Han Dalun Sauce Garden’, with its ancient style still present; the century-old restaurant ‘Mao Song Restaurant’, which has been newly opened; ‘Ancient Town Old Tea House’, the best in the suburbs of Shanghai; traditional manual workshops, with a complete range of categories; antiques, ceramics, flowers and birds, calligraphy and paintings, local specialties, handicrafts, and specialty snack shops, all are dazzling. The street is full of signs fluttering in the wind, with red lanterns hanging high, presenting a scene of prosperity. North Street is only three to four meters wide, with the narrowest part being only two meters. The small buildings on both sides are made of brick and wood, with eaves almost touching each other, forming a unique ‘One Line Street’ landscape. The houses on both sides have upturned eaves and corners, horse mountain walls, facades with uniform flower-patterned floor-to-ceiling windows, old-style vermilion-painted sliding door panels, exuding a strong, simple and elegant atmosphere.

One of the original ten scenic spots of the ancient town, ‘Yunqiao Yule’ antique building complex has risen from the ground at the intersection of North Street and Meizhou Alley, shining brightly again. The following photo shows Yuanjin Zen Temple, one of the twelve scenic spots of Qinghua Pavilion. Built in the Zhizheng period of the Yuan Dynasty, it is located by the Caogang River. Inside the temple, there is a statue of the Virgin of Chenzhou, so it is also known as ‘Goddess Temple’. The current Yuanjin Zen Temple was rebuilt later. The gate is very small, but after entering, there is a hidden wonderland. Although the Zen temple is facing the street, it is quiet, simple, and antique. The structure inside the courtyard is small, and there are not many Buddha statues, but they are all exquisitely carved, shining brightly, solemn and majestic. The Qinghua Pavilion at the back of the courtyard is even more famous. It is not only a place where famous scholars and literati collect calligraphy and paintings, but also has a beautiful environment. Climbing upstairs to the top floor, looking far and near, you can have a panoramic view of the beautiful scenery of Zhuxi. In history, the Zen temple was an important cultural relic storage place. Since the Ming and Qing Dynasties, many scholars and refined scholars have come here attracted by its reputation. The Zen temple has become a gathering place for scholars in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. Unfortunately, many precious cultural relics in the courtyard were partially destroyed in wars and some were stolen and sold by unworthy monks in the temple. By the end of the 1940s, there were not many precious items left. Later, most of them were taken over by the Cultural Relics Management Committee of Jiangsu Province and collected in museums in Jiangsu Province and Suzhou City. A few are preserved in the Qingpu District Museum. In the early 1950s, the Zen temple was demolished. Now there are still the ‘Records of Rebuilding Qinghua Pavilion’ written by Wang Chang, the ‘Inscription on the Tower of Elder Zhenhua’, and the ‘Records of Rebuilding the Main Hall’ written by Shen Guangying stone tablets, which have become the only cultural relics left by the Zen temple. Yuanjin Zen Temple is one of the scenic spots in Zhujiajiao Ancient Town. It is antique. It was first built in the Yuan Dynasty. It is a Buddhist Zen temple. Inside, there is a statue of the Virgin of Chenzhou, so people also call it Goddess Temple. Yuanjin Zen Temple covers a small area, but its design and architecture are quite exquisite. Friends who are interested can go for a stroll. However, you need to buy tickets. Below is Yongfeng Bridge. Spanning the river, it connects Donghu Street and Xihu Street. Built in 1627, the seventh year of the Tianqi period of the Ming Dynasty, it is also known as Yongfeng Bridge. When the bridge was built, local residents hoped for eternal abundance, so it was named Yongfeng Bridge. The bridge foundation of Yongfeng Bridge is made of bricks, and the bridge deck is paved with stone slabs. It is a stone slab bridge with a brick and stone structure. The bridge seems ordinary and extremely dilapidated, but it is a witness to the history of Zhujiajiao Ancient Town. One stone slab on the bridge was blown up in 1937 and became a painful memory. On November 8, 1937, Japanese planes bombed the ancient town for the third time since the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War, causing many casualties in the town. How many houses were destroyed in an instant, and famous historical sites were damaged. On that day, a sulfur incendiary bomb fell on Yongfeng Bridge. Fortunately, it did not explode. It only shattered a stone slab and fell into the cesspit beside the bridge, so it did not explode and burn. Otherwise, the surrounding houses would have been burned down, causing casualties among the people.
This bloody historical fact. Yongfeng Bridge is a living witness and also an ironclad proof of the crimes left by the Japanese invaders. Now the stone slabs on the bridge deck are broken and have been rebuilt with cement, but the shape of the bridge still remains unchanged. To educate future generations and keep in mind the national humiliation, the truth of history is left on the broken stones that were blown up. At that time, the broken stones were engraved with characters and made into a monument, which was buried vertically at the bridge abutment. The broken stone monument is engraved with the three characters ‘commemorative stone’, so that Zhujiajiao Ancient Town and the people will never forget. Behind the cruise ship terminal is the Keyuan Garden. As it is not open today, we cannot enter. According to the introduction, it is located in the northwest of Zhujiajiao Ancient Town and is the largest garden architecture in the local area. Inside the garden, there are small bridges and flowing water, and every step is a scene. It is the most worthwhile paid scenic spot in the ancient town to visit, and the environment is quiet and secluded. Keyuan Garden was built in 1912 and took 15 years to complete. It was once the private residence of Ma Wenqing, a local tycoon. The design structure and decorative building materials used in this garden mostly adopt a combination of Chinese and Western styles, which is a characteristic of Keyuan Garden. The gate of Keyuan Garden is adjacent to the water alley. The entrance looks ordinary, but there is a hidden wonder inside. Especially after passing through several halls, a huge garden will be seen. Keyuan Garden is divided into two major parts: Keyuan and Zhiyuan. Keyuan is the living and learning area of the owner’s family. Zhiyuan is the entertainment and farming area. The two characters ‘Keyuan’ imply the meaning of ‘not forgetting farming while studying’, showing the peaceful mentality of the garden owner’s family who values farming and reading. In the distance is the church. In many streets and alleys, the owners are quite sentimental. They specially design a simple flower shelf in front of their homes or directly open up a long and narrow flower bed with mud and plant various red flowers and green grasses. Passers-by feel extremely comfortable even if they don’t enter and consume but just look at these flowers and grasses. When coming to Zhujiajiao, you must eat a meat zongzi. There are egg yolk and meat zongzi, big meat zongzi, etc. The price starts from 6 yuan, which is acceptable. Although there is a large piece of fat in the meat zongzi and it may seem greasy, but taking a bite is simply melt-in-your-mouth and very delicious. This is a century-old teahouse. Teahouses or coffee shops are usually at the end of alleys. As the saying goes, ‘good tea is not afraid of deep alleys’. They are usually privately operated. Although most of them are transformed from private residences of local residents, they all have creativity and a fresh style. On a weekend afternoon, invite two or three good friends, book a table, face the lake, savor a cup of fragrant tea or coffee, chat for a while or play a small game of cards. It is really a kind of comfort. In a corner of the waterway, the warm spring sun shines on the shoulders of the boat rower, peaceful and serene. The following photo is Taian Bridge. Commonly known as Hejia Bridge, it was built in the 12th year of Wanli in the Ming Dynasty (1584). It is a single-arch stone arch bridge and is the steepest stone arch bridge in the whole town. There are two flagpole stones erected at the bridge abutment, which were used for hanging street lamps and are navigation marks for passing ships.
The material used to build Hejia Bridge is bluestone, and the relief carvings on the bridge railing, ‘Flying Cloud Stone’, are all very similar to works from the Yuan Dynasty. The Yuanjin Zen Temple in front of the bridge was also built in the Yuan Dynasty. Therefore, bridge experts have different views on the history of this bridge. A famous scholar in the Qing Dynasty once wrote a poem: ‘As the scorching sun sets and the heat subsides, in the pale moonlight of the pond; hearing singing while strolling in the market, the fisherman’s flute is to the east of the brook. Fanning lightly with a cattail leaf fan to dispel the summer heat, and the short banana shirt catches a bit of wind. Taking a leisurely stroll alone in the cool evening, a bridge connects an ancient temple.’ The poem describes the sunset and dusk, fishermen singing in the evening. After a sweltering day, people gently wave cattail leaf fans and step onto the bridgehead to fully enjoy the cool evening. It is truly a vivid ancient picture of enjoying coolness and escaping the heat. Here it says ‘a bridge connects an ancient temple’. The ‘ancient temple’ refers to Yuanjin Zen Temple, and the ‘one bridge’ is Tai’an Bridge. This is an old sauce garden from the Qing Dynasty. Buy some pickles. If you accidentally stroll to a secluded end of the street and the noisy scene disappears unknowingly, then you must have entered the area of homestays. It doesn’t matter. You won’t get lost. Instead, you can take your time and stroll around for a while. Maybe you can still hear the singing from an old-fashioned radio floating out of a window with fluttering vines. Don’t be afraid of the big dogs that boldly pass by you in the homestay. They are usually very friendly and at least won’t bark wildly. Just don’t provoke them. When returning, you can buy some small handicrafts as souvenirs, such as Zhujiajiao ink wash paintings; you can also buy some local specialties, such as sesame brittle candy, and take them back to share with your family. This is Huimin Bridge. It is the only small wooden bridge in the ancient town and also the most unique wooden bridge. Because there are wooden planks on the bridge deck, with tiles and upturned eaves on top, it is also called a covered bridge. Pedestrians can avoid wind and rain and also shield from the scorching sun. This not only provides convenience for people to pass through but also offers a place for people to rest and avoid wind and rain. Therefore, it is called Huimin Bridge. Standing on the bridge, you can enjoy the neat stone embankments on both banks and the Ming and Qing architecture with white walls and black tiles. You can see the charming scenes of people opening windows by the water and shopping by the water, forming a unique painting of water town customs. Huimin Bridge was damaged and repaired before the end of a certain period. Hence, it was later called the New Bridge. In the early 1950s, because a bridge was built in front of the Town God’s Temple and the structure of Huimin Bridge became dilapidated over time, it was demolished. In 1996, in order to develop the ancient town’s tourism industry, Chen Shuchang, a townsman, believed that Huimin Bridge should be rebuilt. Therefore, he personally donated 100,000 yuan and built a covered bridge with a brick and wood structure at the original location. The bridge piers are made of cement and covered with wood. The roof is tiled with upturned eaves. This can blend in with the ancient town’s architecture and add another scenic line to the ancient town’s tourism industry. This is the God of Wealth Temple. This is Ping’an Bridge. Located at the intersection of Daxin Street, it was built in the Ming Dynasty and is a mixed structure of brick, stone, and wood. In the old days, this place was called Ping’an Lane, so it is named Ping’an Bridge. The bridge body and foundation are made of granite strips. The handrails on both sides are built with blue bricks. The handrail in the middle is two logs without any decoration, natural and simple.
It is said that this bridge was built by the Ming Dynasty’s famous general Qi Jiguang during his military campaign against the Japanese pirates. To commemorate the bridge built by Qi’s army for the people and their achievements in fighting the pirates, the Peace Bridge is also known as the Qi Family Bridge. Constructed with locally sourced materials by the Qi’s army, the bridge features a mixed structure of bricks, wood, and stones. It was built quickly and without much attention to materials or craftsmanship due to the army’s passage, resulting in uneven bridge stones that make a ‘clucking’ sound as pedestrians cross. However, the bridge remains sturdy and well-preserved to this day. The residential buildings have all been transformed into cafes and bars. This is the Fuxing Bridge, built in the second year of the Yongzheng era (1774) in the Qing Dynasty, located at the west end of the town. In ancient times, water towns at the end of the market usually did not have wooden fences, which were closed at night for security, prohibiting the passage of foreign ships. Thus, this area is known as the west gate of the Huxi Port, hence it is also called the West Gate Bridge or West Stone Bridge. The Fuxing Bridge is well-preserved, tall and straight, with a mottled surface of sesame stone, and small trees sprouting from the stone seams of the bridge foundation, adding a touch of elegance and grace. The bridge’s pillars are engraved with the following couplet: ‘As the tide surges, the Yue River’s dragon lies in wait; as clouds connect, the Wu Mountains hang the moon’s hook; a single body of water locks in the fine atmosphere, and for thousands of years, a rainbow is seen hanging.’ The couplet captures the scenery, emotions, and flavors, expressing the elegant charm and quiet sentiments of the water town by the Sanmu and Jiufeng. It is a beautiful poem that expresses emotions through scenery, accurately describing the important geographical location of the ancient town at the border of Wu and Yue, as well as the beautiful scenery of the water-rich country. From the bridge, one can overlook the entire town to the east, with magnificent buildings in a row, and to the west, a distant view of the lake and water, which is refreshing and invigorating, truly giving a sense of good fortune and prosperity. The City God Temple is the Qingpu City God’s palace, relocated to its current location by a Huizhou man named Cheng Lu Ji in the twenty-eighth year of the Qianlong era (1763). The temple complex consists of a main gate, a stage, and a main hall, with side rooms on both sides, a small winding stream nearby, and peach, plum, and willow trees can be seen everywhere, with an elegant layout featuring 12 scenic spots. The top of the stage is made up of 160 brackets forming a circular spiral top, which is very rare. The stone pillars on both sides are inlaid with the couplet ‘Building this stage is long and enduring, watching the past, is it a dream or is it real?’ with the horizontal plaque reading ‘Pingya Song’. In 1986, it was listed as a county-level cultural heritage protection unit. The City God Temple faces east and west, with the main entrance facing the river and a wall of screens, with east and west gates on both sides, and a pair of stone lions in front, holding embroidered balls with soft lines. Upon entering, there are two side halls on the left and right, followed by a stone pillar fish spine, and a stage with upturned eaves and corners. In front of the stage is a temple square paved with stone slabs, and beyond the temple square is the main hall, where in the center of the hall, there are statues of the City God and his wife, both with kind and peaceful expressions. The main hall is flanked by side rooms. In the past, on the left side, there were Yinqing Hall, Yuzhao Corridor, Yue Xiang Room, and Zhao Chun Terrace. On the right side, there were Ninghe Study, Hejing Mountain House, Tanying Pavilion, Keyu Studio, Yixiu Pavilion, and Hanqing Pavilion, among others.
Ninghe Study, once the gathering place for local literati, stands as a testament to the region’s cultural heritage. In front of Tanying Pavilion lies a lotus pond, bordered by carefully arranged rocks; Hanqing Pavilion is adjacent to a small brook, spanned by a quaint stone bridge, and teeming with hundreds of koi fish. Surrounding the area are lush plantings of hibiscus, willows, peach, and plum trees. These pavilions, towers, rockeries, and ponds were collectively known as the ‘Twelve Scenic Spots of the City God Temple’ in times past. After restoration, they have regained their former splendor. The City God Temple also serves as the primary venue for Taoist activities in Zhujiajiao Town. Taoism venerates Li Er (Laozi) from the Eastern Zhou Dynasty as its leader, known as the Supreme Lord, and is divided into four sects, with the ‘Zhengyi Dao’ being the most prevalent in Zhujiajiao. Today’s final destination is the Great Qing Zhujiajiao Post Office, originally established in 1903. It was the earliest postal institution in the area, one of the thirteen major post stations in Shanghai at the time, and the only remaining site of the Great Qing Post Office in the East China region. The refurbished Great Qing Zhujiajiao Post Office maintains its original formal layout, enhancing the attraction’s appeal by integrating modern concepts with history, showcasing the century-old vicissitudes of the ancient town’s postal services, and uncovering the long-standing history of Chinese postal services. This adds a new highlight to the Zhujiajiao scenic area. Upon completing your tour, you may purchase souvenirs such as Zhujiajiao ink paintings, or local specialties like sock-bottom crisps, sesame oil, brittle candy, and white rice shrimp to share with your family. The misty spring scenery of the water town brings a sense of tranquility to those who live amidst the hustle and bustle of the city.

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