Luzhi Ancient Town 甪直古镇

About Luzhi Ancient Town

Luzhi Ancient Town (甪直古镇) is the old town quarter of Luzhi, a town in Wuzhong District (吴中区) about 25 km southeast of Suzhou (苏州). The Suzhou Culture, Radio, Television and Tourism Bureau lists it as an AAAA-rated scenic area.

The town's older name, Fuli (甫里), comes from the Tang poet Lu Guimeng (陆龟蒙), who lived here in seclusion under the name "Master Fuli". The present name is explained by a local legend: the settlement was once split into Fuli and Liuzhi (六直), and a one-horned beast called the luduan (甪端) guarded Liuzhi. Because liu (六, "six") and lu (甪) are pronounced alike in the Wu dialect, Liuzhi became Luzhi, and the name was made official at the end of the Qing.

Houses in the old quarter keep their Ming and Qing form. They may not be demolished or altered, and factories, new high-rise buildings, cars and motorcycles are kept out. The town has about 40 stone slab and arched bridges, among them Hefeng Bridge (和丰桥), built under the Song, and the Dongmei and Dongda bridges from the Ming, and the town is known as the "Museum of Ancient Bridges". On 8 October 2003 the Ministry of Construction and the State Administration of Cultural Heritage listed Luzhi as a Famous Historical and Cultural Town of China.

Baosheng Temple (保圣寺) was founded in 503 under the Liang dynasty, destroyed in 845 during the Tang suppression of Buddhism and rebuilt in 1013. It once held eighteen clay arhats attributed to the Tang sculptor Yang Huizhi (杨惠之). After the historian Gu Jiegang (顾颉刚) publicised their decay in 1922, and the Japanese art historian Omura Seigai (大村西崖) studied them and published a book in 1926, a preservation society formed in 1929; by then only nine figures were left. The nine were restored and a new antiquities hall for the temple was finished in 1932. In 1961 the State Council placed the statues in the first batch of Major Historical and Cultural Sites Protected at the National Level.

Later residents are also remembered. The reformer and newspaper founder Wang Tao (王韬) was born in the town in 1828 and later founded the Chinese daily Tsun Wan Yat Po (循环日报) in Hong Kong. The writer Ye Shengtao (叶圣陶) taught here from 1917 to 1922, began his literary work here and called Luzhi his second home.

What to look for

• Nine clay arhats attributed to Yang Huizhi (杨惠之) in the Baosheng Temple (保圣寺) museum
• Tomb of Lu Guimeng (陆龟蒙墓) near Baosheng Temple, beside the Qingfeng Pavilion (清风亭) and two old ginkgos said to be his planting
• Hefeng Bridge (和丰桥), a Song-dynasty bridge, and the Ming-dynasty Dongmei (东美桥) and Dongda (东大桥) bridges
• The entrance archway carved with a couplet from the Ming poet Gao Qi's (高启) poem on the Fuli scenery
• Wang Tao Memorial Hall (王韬纪念馆), in a Qing-style building at 6 Zhongshi Street (中市街)
• Ye Shengtao Memorial Hall (叶圣陶纪念馆), on the site of the Fifth Higher Primary School where he taught
• Wansheng Rice Shop (万盛米行) on Xiatang Street (下塘街), the model for the shop in Ye Shengtao's story "Three or Five Pecks More" (多收了三五斗), with old farm tools in its courtyard

Location & getting there

Getting to Luzhi Ancient Town

• Search for 甪直古镇 with 苏州市 and 吴中区.