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Marco Polo once said ‘every time I describe a city I am saying something about Venice’.
When the Italian merchant, explorer, and writer ventured along the Silk Road in Asia between 1271 and 1295, as legend would have it, he was fascinated by the charming water towns of Shanghai.
One that would have almost certainly had him saying something about Venice in his description is Zhujiajiao. Known affectionately as the ‘Venice of the Shanghai’, this, the most preserved of Shanghai’s six ancient villages, boasts nine streets, a cluster of meandering canal waterways, curved rock bridges, stone pathways, and as many as 10,000 compact buildings dating as far back as the Ming and Qing dynasties.
“Most the buildings here at 100 to 200 years old,” guide Patrick Liu explains as we wander over the first of the 30 or so ancient bridges in the town that sits proudly in Qingpu District, just over an hour’s drive from our base, The Ritz-Carlton Shanghai, Pudong. We stop within a few steps of setting off to watch an elderly woman who is busily making batches of Chinese delicacies to sell to the 10 million tourists who visit here each year.
“She’s making meat with sticky rice and soya sauce,” Liu tells me. “The Chinese call it ‘sum’.”
It is relatively quiet for a Thursday morning, the only sounds to speak of are those of the gondolas gently nudging the nearby pier as the water laps around them and the clicking of cameras as shopkeepers beckon passersby into the stores, cafes, and restaurants lining the 1700-year-old cobbled streets.
“Eight-hundred families live in Zhujiajiao, and most of those who visit are Chinese … I bring tourists here six to eight times a month,” admits Liu as we make our way into Kezhi Garden, one of the town’s most popular attractions.
There are three must-visit sites here – the gardens, the Great Qing Post Office (operational between 1616 and 1912), and the local boats that ferry tourists through the canals and along the river, just as they do in Venice.
Before we get to the gardens, we make a slight detour into a workshop where a woman is embroidering silk thread onto canvas. She’s been doing this since she was a young girl and says that sadly the skill is being lost on the younger generations and may one day be lost altogether.
The intricacy of her works which range in size from postcards to canvas-size is remarkable and I can’t help but part with a few Yuan for a souvenir.
As we make our way into the gardens Liu explains that they were built in 1912, are part of a manor-style private park, and rank among the largest in the southern China region. Made up of three parts – a gallery, an artificial hill and a park – they are typical of most Chinese gardens: deliberately designed and evoke a tranquility that should be experienced to be felt.
This beautiful landscape I eventually find myself at the centre of is flush with well thought-out water features, a variety of plants, flowers, and trees, decorative rocks, Chinese-style pavilions, there’s even a rice paddy.
“The village produces 10 per cent of the rice in Shanghai,” Liu says when we get to a paddy that’s being worked by a group of half a dozen villagers. “The flat land here means that they are able to harvest two crops a year for the local Chinese market.”
Since hearing about the similarities this picturesque village and its Italian equivalent have, I’ve been intrigued. As I step into one of the many ‘gondolas’ – more like a weathered canal boat than a romantic Venetian-style gondola – and begin our journey through the waterway along Xijing Street toward the Tai’an Bridge pier (one of the eight across the village) the similarities becomes more obvious.
This is indeed a fascinating way to take in the scenery and gain a greater understanding of life in the Yangtze River delta region, one that’s far less hectic than that in Shanghai, a modern cosmopolitan capital of global finance that heaves under the pressure of its 24 million-strong population every day.
We cruise slowly under Yong’an Bridge and into the Caogang River – the equivalent of Venice’s Grand Canal – that leads to the Fangsheng Bridge, the most well-known landmark in Zhujiajiao. It’s here that I’m prompted to reach for my camera. It may be a bleak, dreary day, but these are ideal conditions for capturing shots of one of Shanghai’s magnificent landmarks.
Built in the 17th century, the 70-metre Fangsheng Bridge is the village’s version of the Rialto in Venice. From the water, the five-stone arched structure that connects the north and south of Zhujiajiao demands our undivided attention, and from all accounts the number of tourists atop the bridge indicated the feeling is mutual.
North Street and the post office are the next stops, but not before I stop to take a photograph of a young Chinese boy who has decided he’d like to climb atop an elephant sculpture outside the local Buddhist temple, his cheesy smile is precious.
A stroll along North Street is the most well-preserved Ming-Qing Street in Shanghai is mandatory. As I admire the ancient architecture and poke my head into just about every store and cafe in the neighbourhood, I’m greeted with warm smiles, one shopkeeper even offering to take a photograph of me out the front of his business.
It’s here that commercial enterprise combines with everyday life to provide tourists an authentic insight into a community so rich in history and tradition.
Red rice paper lanterns sway gently in the breeze at regular intervals along the path and the narrow laneways have so much pull it’s hard not to while away a few hours here simply people watching, in fact I am locked into a woman who is working away across the river preparing ingredients for the evening meal or family lunch gathering. It’s a simple life really.
It is upon entering the Qing Post Office that the significance of this town to the Chinese culture becomes even more apparent. Having been built in 1903, Liu explains that this old building is so important because it saw the development of the country’s postal service.
An old copper post box landmarks the entrance and is the spot for many a tourist selfie, while inside visitors are able to peruse thousands of ancient stamps, envelopes and postcards along with old paintings that depict how postmen delivered mail during ancient times.
At the end of an engaging day spent in Zhujiajiao I am pleased to have ventured out of Shanghai and into a microcosm of China that is often neglected by travellers in favour of the bigger cities.
After a visit here, you too will be putting Venice and China in the same sentence, just as a certain famous Italian explorer once did.
Patrick Liu offered personal guided tours and can be contacted at patricktours@hotmail.com.
For as long as I can remember I’ve been a writer, combining that with an inquisitive mind and a desire for adventure and cultural immersion, and well, that’s me.
