After 4 years of construction and more than 1 billion of investment, the West Scenic Zone covers an area of 4.92 square kilometers, which truly presents the style of the ancient town of Jiangnan Water Village in China. Wuzhen West Scenic Zone is composed of 12 islands surrounded by clear water. A large number of ancient buildings in Ming and Qing Dynasties and old streets are preserved here. The ancient buildings preserved the antique beauty while the interior is selectively furnished with modern facilities, which greatly improves the life of the aborigines and provides visitors with a comfortable living environment and a full range of leisure and entertainment. It can be said that Wuzhen West Scenic Zone is an oasis away from the urban hustle and bustle. It is a tourist destination that perfectly combines the functions of sightseeing and vacation.
Indigo Fabric Workshop
The Indigo Fabric Workshop is a quite big dyeing and printing workshop that covers an area of 2,500 m². Paved with green bricks, the cloth-drying space is filled with tall poles and terraced cloth frames. Indigo cloth has been part of Chinese folk culture for more than a millennium. There is a saying goes that it was first invented by a loving husband for his wife, and became popular among common people for its low cost and high quality. As a traditional product of Wuzhen and the favorite clothing material of the local people, patterned indigo cloth is an ideal souvenir for tourists.
Water Market
At the center of an extensive network of waterways, Wuzhen was once a transportation junction linking all the surrounding towns and provinces. People living in the adjacent towns and villages used to row their boats here in the early morning to drink a cup of tea or to sell their vegetables. Gradually, a thriving water market was developed here. The riverside denizens could buy things from passing boats, and then they would row up to the house with fresh vegetables for sale.
Nowadays, the Water Market in Wuzhen West Scenic Zone covers an area of about 3,400 m². Tourists with an interest in experiencing the life of the local people may book a room in a resident’s home. After shopping for vegetables at the market, they can even come back and learn to cook a few local dishes from the local people.
Yida Silk Workshop
Wuzhen’s charming network of waterways and access to the Grand Canal once made it a prosperous place for its trade and production for silk. Yida Silk Workshop was founded in 1875, which has experienced many ups and downs in the past centuries. Now it has developed into a vertically integrated business, owning the entire silk production skills, such as planting mulberry trees, raising silk worms, silk reeling, silk spinning and finally silk weaving.