Suzhou and Wuzhen - Water Villages

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The coup continues, I am still in command while Norma recovers. There are several water villages, based around canals, in the delta region and we were lucky enough to visit two of them. First was Wuzhen village, a very historic village of old wooden homes, each facing on a street and backing on a canal. In the centre of the village was a canal basin surrounded by steps, which was a market place where goods brought in by boat were sold. The whole village has been declared a heritage site and is protected by the government, when people move out to new apartments in nearby towns the government assumes the homes. The actual remaining population is small and consists mainly elderly folk who want to stay in their homes until they die. Many of the homes have been converted into cultural museums. One that sounds ordinary but was very interesting was a wooden bed museum, with a fantastic collection of carved wooden beds of Ming and Ching Dynasty age. Others showed the making and distilling of rice wine, the dying of indigo textiles, historical ethnic clothing, wooden carvings of architectural details such as beams and pillars. They were proud that Tom Cruise was here filming part of Mission Impossible and another house had been restored for the filming of a Chinese movie "A Love Story". The weekends are busy with day-trippers from Shanghai and I was asked to have my photo taken with various families, a new experience for Norma but common for "Mr KFC" of Xiamen.
The second water village was the famous Suzhou, which we visited the next day. Early in the morning we set off on a boat ride on the Grand Canal, built a thousand years ago this 30 metre wide and 2 metre deep canal links Beijing with Shanghai, an amazing infrastructure project for its time and still used by huge commercial barges today. I thought this was not what I wanted but we soon swung off into the narrow canals of the old village of Suzhou, crossed by ancient bridges still actively used today. The homes are all still occupied and this is a very living village. People are washing clothes in the canals, windows offer glimpses of domestic detail, women cooking, a man shaving etc. There is still much atmosphere in this tour.
We also visited two sites which showed the whole process of silk making - from the live silkworms eating mulberry leaves and pooping little round droppings to the beautiful silk clothing and cloth for sale at the end. We saw the moths, the cocoons, the boiling to kill the pupae and remove the natural gum which binds the filaments, the removal of the thread from the cocoon then the weaving of the textile. Part of this visit was to an incredible embroidery factory, all done by hand, with the most lifelike pieces of work. The major pieces taking over a year to complete.
Suzhou also has a leaning pagoda which rivals the Leaning Tower of Pisa and has, similarly, been stabilised in it's current position.
The last visit of the day was to the beautiful "Garden of the Humble Administrator" - this is a visual feast of small man-made hills, ponds teeming with giant goldfish and black carp and limestone rock riddled with weathering holes. Set amongst this are many exquisite pavilions with superb views of the ponds, trees and lotus blossoms and Moon Gates, linked by pathways of small rounded pebbles in mosaic patterns. There are four elements of a classical garden - Water, Rock, Vegetation and Buildings and the Humble Administrator used them all to their maximum effect. This site is so outstanding it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
So Wuzhen and Suzhou villages gave us a great insight into the lives of the ordinary folk and the cultured and privileged upper class of the delta water villages.

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Photos

Canal in Wuzhen
Wuzhen is one of the 'water villages' of the Yangtse delta - like Asian Venices their main streets are canals.

Drying textiles
Traditional indigo-dyed cloth in a drying yard in Wuzhen

Canals of Suzhou
Suzhou is another of the preserved water villages of the delta region

Canalside living
A woman using the canal for washing in Suzhou

Moon Gate
One of the moon gates in the Garden of the Humble Administrator, Suzhou

Bonzai
Some of the great bonzai collection in the Garden of the Humble Administrator

Comments

[Nicki B]

Lucky you!
Your trip just gets more fantastic by the minute! I am really enjoying reading about all your adventures and can't wait to see the pics when you return. D-man loved the pics you sent him,...he so enjoys getting mail! Stay safe and keep writing!! See you next month!