Xitang Ancient Town 西塘古镇

About Xitang Ancient Town

Xitang Ancient Town (西塘古镇) is the canal-side old quarter of Xitang in Jiashan County (嘉善县), Jiaxing (嘉兴), about 10 km north of the county town, known for its riverside covered walkways and stone bridges.

Xitang was once called Xutang (胥塘) or Xietang (斜塘). In the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods it lay on the border of the states of Wu and Yue, which gave it the nickname 'root of Wu, corner of Yue' (吴根越角). Settled by the Tang and Song, it had grown by the Yuan and Ming into a wealthy market town living from kilns, pottery and the rice trade. The old town covers 1.01 square kilometres of flat, water-cut ground: nine waterways run through it, spanned by 27 stone bridges, and 122 old lanes thread between some 250,000 square metres of Ming and Qing buildings.

The town went on China's tentative list for World Heritage in 2001, was named on 8 October 2003 to the first batch of China's Historical and Cultural Towns (中国历史文化名镇), and was among the 20 scenic areas put forward for national 5A rating in February 2017. Eight sites, grouped as the Xitang Building Complex (西塘建筑群), became a Zhejiang provincial protected site in January 2011; they include the Wang residence, the Wolong (卧龙桥) and Wufu (五福桥) bridges, the Zhong Jiefu Pharmacy (钟介福药店) and the ancestral home of Ni Tianzeng (倪天增), a late vice-mayor of Shanghai.

Streets along the water are roofed with covered walkways (廊棚) that link the canal to the shopfronts and keep off sun and rain; the Qingpu District government puts their surviving length at more than 1,300 metres. West Street (西街), the main east-west street, runs past Shipi Lane (石皮弄), an open-air passage squeezed between two houses from the late Ming or early Qing, the Wang family's Zhongfu Hall (种福堂), West Garden (西园), the China Button Museum and a display of eaves tiles. Huanxiu Bridge (环秀桥), built in 1581, was the town's first high bridge. Scenes of the film Mission: Impossible III were shot here, and since the lyricist Vincent Fang (方文山) launched it in November 2013, a Hanfu (汉服) culture week has been held in Xitang every year.

What to look for

• The covered riverside walkways (廊棚), more than 1,300 metres of them
• Shipi Lane (石皮弄), an open-air passage between two houses from the late Ming or early Qing
• Zhongfu Hall (种福堂), the Wang family residence east of Shipi Lane
• Huanxiu Bridge (环秀桥) of 1581, the town's first high bridge
• West Garden (西园), a park built in 1990, among the sights of West Street
• The China Button Museum (中国钮扣博物馆) and the eaves-tile display on West Street
• The Zhong Jiefu Pharmacy (钟介福药店), one of the eight buildings of the provincially protected Xitang Building Complex

Location & getting there

Getting to Xitang Ancient Town

• Search for 西塘古镇 with 嘉兴市 and 嘉善县.