Small pagoda in Zhouzhuang.
Zhouzhuang is one of the "water towns", which can be found all over the Shanghai - Suzhou area. It is located about 70 km (44 miles) by road west of Shanghai. The town itself is about 900 years old, most of the restored buildings are from the Ming or Qing dynasty, thus about 300 years old. About 1000 old buildings are preserved, many of them restored. The many big or small wars in the area did not affect Zhouzhuang: As the town was reachable only on waterways over a long time, it escaped devastation.
Lots of small canals crisscross the town, 10 old bridges cross those channels. The town of Zhouzhuang provides a superb opportunity to see something of rural China and the traditions that have been erased from a modern metropolis. During the development as a tourist town some pagodas and temples that were previously located in other towns were moved to Zhouzhuang.
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