UNESCO Heritage Listed - Zhou Zhuang Ancient Township
Before I came over to Shanghai, this town was mentioned to me by my cousin, as a well-worthy place of visit. Upon hearing it, I went to read up on my Lonely Planet Shanghai book and found that it is a United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) heritage listed venues in 1998.
They have a comprehensive webpage on Zhou Zhuang Township, please go take there to take a look and have a greater understanding on this remarkable ancient township Zhou Zhuang Ancient Township
Today, after having a hearty breakfast by dearest Auntie, we set off to our destination Zhou Zhuang Township. However, before we even reached 5km, we had to stop for an hour to fix a leaking and rusty water pipe in the car. Therefore, we stopped at a garage for an hour to get it fixed before driving to our destination.
Along the way to the destination, we passed by different parts of Shanghai, great massive lakes before entering Jiangsu Province, where Zhou Zhuang Ancient Township is located. By the time we reached, it was around 12pm and it's time for lunch. Looking around, we just pop into a restaurant at the corner of a cross junction leading up to the entrance of the Ancient Township. We had a great lunch and the pork leg meat a.k.a. "ti pang", a Jiangsu delicacy. The meat was great but it was a bit too big for the two of us.
Without further ado, we went into the ancient township and started my journey into another world of rich and strong heritage, culture and history. It doesn't take too much time to realise why UNESCO had chosen Zhou Zhuang Township, once you are inside there, you felt that you had gone back in time. The water canals connecting the houses, the bridges across many different sides of the entire township, display of historical kitchens, items, different chambers within the big houses. Wooden boats parked at the side of the canals, boatman and woman rowing the boats inside the canals, wriggling their journey through the narrow straits, singing their local songs. The villagers preparing their food, washing their stuff etc etc, displaying their traditional goods and local food.
I took about 100 photographs in Zhou Zhuang, something that I felt I didn't do enough justice to this beautiful ancient township. I hope that my selected photographs on display would show Zhou Zhuang its rich history and beauty to all folks who visited my blog.
I walked around pretty quick and covered pretty much most of the whole ancient township. Within the ancient township itself, there were many other mini-museums e.g. Zhang's House and Shen's House, two of the houses we visited and we had a greater understanding of the famous people during the Ming and Qing Dynasties, their family house, artwork and their contributions.
Looking back, in the face of modernisation, many countries in the world faces economic growth at the expense of losing historical venues, items, culture etc etc ... A world citizen in the modern globalised world, can play a big part in preserving the history and culture of the countries they visit and the motherland they originated or presently residing.
Let's all play a part. I hope my writing here would make a difference to you and me.
