Xitang Water Village lies in Jiashan County in Zhejiang Province, about 80 km to Shanghai and 110 km to Hangzhou. Xitang Water Village is a famous tourist attraction, boasting charming landscape and tranquil lifestyle.
Why Xitang Village is special
Xitang Ancient Water Town is reputed as a fairyland, or a living painting for its charming landscape and local people’s peaceful life. The village is completely different from its neighbor, hustle and bustle Shanghai. Different the modern cities, Xitang Water Village present the traditional and tranquil charm. You could enjoy fresh air and light fog in the morning, and get lost when seeing the sun casts a rosy glow on the old tiled roofs in the evening.
Xitang Village highlights
Covered Corridor
The covered corridor is the most distinctive feature of this water town. The corridor is usually tile-roofed and built along the riverside. There is over 1, 000 meters long covered corridor in the village, functioning both decoration and shelter for people. With the beautiful corridor, visitors in Xitang could never be caught in the rain or heated by sunlight. The corridor is carved with decorative patterns, and they are praised as the most elegant artistic corridor.
Ancient lanes
There are countless narrow time-worn streets crisscross Xitang Village. All of the lanes are paved with stone slats. Shipi Lane Located on the west side of Zhongfu Hall on West Street is the best preserved. Shipi Lane is 68 meters in length, with 1 meter in width. The narrowest point is only 80 centimeters wide. Shipi Lane is paved with 166 stone planks, each one is only 3 centimeters thick, making them difficult to be chisel from granite. This is why the lane is called Shipi Lane (which means the skin of the stone in Chinese). Walking through these long, quiet lanes with tall, stained walls is like traveling through the town's long history in a spatio-temporal tunnel.
Bridges
As there are 9 rivers flowing through Xitang, the bridges are of much importance to connect the village and convenient local people. However bridges in Xitang are much more than useful, but features beautiful looking and exquisite design. The bridges scatter along the lanes in different shapes. Some of the bridges own interesting stories and some contain beautiful legends.
Xitang pass costs CNY 100, including both the scenic region and 11 sightseeing spots. The village opens for a whole day.