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Xitang
Location:
Zhejiang
Transportation: Bus
service from Shanghai
Culture/History Rating:
4/5
Scenery Rating: 4/5
Executive Summary:
Description:

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The days before the rain comes
are the best days to visit the ancient towns in South China's water
regions. On a breezy day, one can shoulder a camera and ramble along
an old street sipping a well-aged liquor. But however pleasing this
may be, such ancient towns are becoming fewer and fewer, so we can
feel lucky that Xitang still preserves its original look. Xitang is
in Jiashan County, Zhejiang Province. As early as the Spring and
Autumn and Warring States Periods (770-221B.C.), it was a place of
strategic importance on the boundary between Wu and Yue States, and
it was thus known as the Bottom of Wu and the Corner of Yue. During
the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368), it developed into a prosperous town,
and during the Ming and Qing Dynasties (1368-1911), it was known as
an important town for commerce and handicrafts in South China.
Today, Xitang is like an ancient piece of jade, glittering and
translucent. |
The area has a flat terrain,
and the nine rivers that run through the town divide it into eight
parts. Xitang is known for its bridges, lanes, and ceilinged
corridors. There are 104 bridges of varied structure, all from the
Ming and Qing Dynasties, some looking like rainbows over the river,
and others like long flutes. Standing on one of these bridges and
watching the boats through a round opening, one feels drawn into
deep meditation on the past. Many of the shops and houses in Xitang
are built on the riversides. There are a total of 122 lanes, long
and short, wide and narrow. The lanes are paved with stone planks,
polished by the feet of pedestrians as well as hundreds of years of
weathering. Together with the black-tiled houses along the roads,
the polished stone planks bear witness to the town's long history.
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Because of the rainy climate, local
residents have invented their own style of ceilinged corridor. Each
family puts a ceiling over the stone-plank road in front of its own
house, and the ceilings connect with one another to form corridors,
the longest being 1,300 meters. Nowadays, the ceilinged corridors
are the main places for outdoor activities and attract countless
tourists. Along one side of the riverside corridors, benches provide
a resting place for pedestrians. It is rarely seen in other places,
but it reflects the ancient and strong local custom typical
riverside villages along the lower reaches of the Yangtze
River.
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Xitang is also attractive
because of the easygoing lifestyle that local residents have
followed for thousands of years. Unlike the towns of Zhouzhuang and
Wuzhen, Xitang is not a bustling place (see China Pictorial November
2001 and February 2002). People in the town live ordinary, peaceful
lives. The elderly play with their grandchildren on bridges and in
lanes, and women wash vegetables and clothes in the rivers running
beside their houses. The simple lifestyle and peaceful atmosphere
may have died out in those now commercialized ancient towns, but
they fill every lane in Xitang. For tourists from modern
metropolises, Xitang is a place to experience a feeling of
simplicity and leisure. An advisor from the UNESCO World Heritage
Center spoke highly of Xitang after coming here. "Xitang is like the
limpid and melodious music of a flute," he said. "People need to
appreciate it with their heart." |
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Climate:
statistics |
Average values in
the latest 20 years |
month |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
9 |
10 |
11 |
12 |
Highest temperature on the
average (centigrade) |
8.0 |
9.0 |
14.0 |
20.0 |
23.0 |
29.0 |
33.0 |
33.0 |
28.0 |
23.0 |
17.0 |
11.0 |
Lowest temperature on the
average (centigrade) |
1.0 |
2.0 |
6.0 |
12.0 |
17.0 |
21.0 |
25.0 |
25.0 |
20.0 |
14.0 |
8.0 |
3.0 |
rainfall
(mm) |
65.0 |
90.0 |
115.0 |
130.0 |
160.0 |
200.0 |
130.0 |
155.0 |
180.0 |
70.0 |
60.0 |
50.0 |
Shopping: N.A
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