What is there to do in Xitang?

Attractions include:

Xitang

Xitang has won the favor of tourists for its three major features: "many bridges, many lanes, and many corridors and sheds".

In the ancient town area, there are 9 rivers crisscrossing each other, dividing the ancient town into 8 blocks, among which 27 ancient bridges connect the towns.

Many existing ancient houses and courtyards in the ancient town are the result of the ancestors of the ancient town getting rich at that time. Since the main traffic in Xitang was waterways at the beginning, there was less external disturbance, so Xitang was able to perfectly preserve the ancient town to this day, allowing the ancestral heritage to continue.

The biggest difference between Xitang and other ancient water towns is that the streets facing the river in the ancient town have corridors and sheds, with a total length of nearly a kilometer, just like the corridors of the Summer Palace. When traveling in Xitang, you won’t get wet on rainy days, and you won’t be exposed to the sun on sunny days.

Among them, there are 11 scenic spots developed by Xitang Tourism Company. Walking counterclockwise: Enter from Yejia Lane in the middle of the ancient town, turn right on West Street, and pass the "Gendiao Pavilion, Wadang Pavilion, Xue Zhai Niu" "Kou Pavilion"; when you get to Shuangqiao, go straight across Anjing Bridge and turn right. On Burning Hong Kong, visit "Ni Ju, Sheng Temple, and Wood Sculpture Museum"; go north along the ancient street east of Xitang Port, cross Lion Bridge, and you can see "Yellow Tavern" ; Follow the slender misty corridor, pass by Shuangzi Laifeng Bridge, and go west to "Zuiyuan and Qilaoye Temple"; return to Huanxiu Bridge, turn right into "Zhongfu Hall"; go east along West Street , and finally visited the "West Garden".

Ni's House

It is located in the south of Hong Kong. The Ni family is the scholarly family in the town.

Ni's House has five entrances from the front and the back, with a corridor in front. There is a shed, a garden at the back, and the main hall is called "Chengqing Hall". It is the ancestral home of the late Shanghai Vice Mayor Ni Tianzeng. Ni Tianzeng (1937-1992) was the deputy mayor in charge of urban construction in Shanghai. His integrity and integrity were deeply loved by the people, and he was known as a good mayor who was a public servant of the people. Ni's house originally had five entrances, but now only the first two are opened. The main hall is Chengqing Hall, which is the name of the Ni family's ancestral home. The front hall and both sides are equipped with kitchen, dining room, account room, piano room, etc., and the upstairs is It has boudoirs, bedrooms, etc., which is a true portrayal of a prosperous family in Xitang during the Ming and Qing Dynasties. After integrating and enriching the anti-corruption education materials, the renovated "Ni Tianzeng Ancestral Residence" and 10 units including Hangzhou Yuqian Temple, Ningbo Qingfeng Garden, and Jiaxing Nanhu Revolutionary Memorial Hall were named as the first batch of "Zhejiang Provincial Anti-corruption Cultural Education Bases" and became party members. It is a place where cadres receive education on political integrity and ordinary tourists cultivate their sentiments.

West Garden

The former site of Xitang Xiyuan is located in Jijia Lane, West Street. It was a separate property of the Zhu family in the Ming Dynasty and was later transferred to the Sun family. There are trees, flowers, plants, rockeries, pavilions and ponds in the garden, and the scenery is beautiful. There is a "Tingtaoxuan" teahouse on the rockery on the east side. It is named because there is a white-barked pine on the rockery, several feet high, and the wind makes a sound. In the winter of 1920, the poet Liu Yazi came to Xitang, lived in Xiyuan, and took a photo in Xiyuan with fellow members of the Nanshe Society in Xitang, titled "The Second Picture of the Xiyuan Gathering". In March 1990, a park with a total area of ??16.6 acres was built in Xishan, Zhenzhen. In commemoration of Liu Yazi's visit to Xiyuan, it was named "Xiyuan". There is a small bridge and flowing water at the entrance, a stone lion foyer, and the garden is surrounded by brick lattice verandahs, waterside pavilions, curved bridges, rockeries, pavilions, and artificial waterfalls. Several inns built next to this scenic spot are also named after this, such as: Xiyuan Yaju, Xiyuan Inn, Xiyuan Inn, etc.

Langpeng

There are many well-preserved Ming and Qing architectural groups in the ancient town area. They have high artistic and research value and have attracted the attention of experts and scholars who study ancient architecture at home and abroad. . The pavilion built along the river in Xitang is a unique building in the water town that connects the river and the shops and can provide shade and shelter from the sun and rain. Xitang still has more than 1,300 meters of pavilion preserved in it.

The most famous scenery in Xitang Ancient Town is a nearly kilometer long and simple-looking gallery shed. The so-called gallery shed is actually a street with a roof. Some of the pavilions in Xitang are close to the river, some are in the middle, and some have benches along the river side for people to rest. The gallery shed is mainly made of brick and wood structure, with a single-color ink tile roof. It is built along the river and integrated into one, commonly known as "Yi Luo Shui". It can provide shelter from the sun and rain, and you can also stop and enjoy the scenery. There are unique vendors selling various items along the way. Walking along, you will feel a sense of nostalgia for the past.

Shipi Lane

Before the Ming Dynasty, the big families in the ancient town had the four surnames of Tang, Wang, Zhao and Lu. After the Ming Dynasty, there were also big families such as Ni, Jiang, Zhu, Bu and Lu. Most of them have deep houses and courtyards. The houses are deep and form long lanes. There are still 122 lanes of different lengths in the town, among which there are 5 house lanes that are more than 100 meters long. The most distinctive open-air lane is called Shipi Lane.

Shipi Lane is located on Xiaxi Street, Xitang Town, at the west end of "Zhongfu Hall". It is an open-air lane sandwiched between two residential buildings. It was built in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties. Among the 122 lanes of different lengths in Xitang Town, Shipi Lane is the narrowest, with a width of only 1 meter. The narrowest part of the lane entrance is only 0.8 meters. The total length is 68 meters. It is paved with 166 stones. The lane surface is flat. The bottom is sewer. The stepped gables on the left and right walls of Shipi Lane are 6-10 meters high.

Zhongfu Hall

Zhongfu Hall is the private residence of the Wang family in the Qing Dynasty. The Wang family originated from the Song Dynasty imperial camp and was controlled by Wang Yuan. Wang Yuan escorted Song Gaozong Zhao Gou to the south and was attacked by the Ming Dynasty. After the incident, his descendants disappeared in the Hangjiahu area. During the Shunkang period of the Qing Dynasty, one of the descendants moved to Xitang and built this house. It has seven front and rear courtyards and a back garden, which is a typical Ming and Qing residential style. The third entrance is the main hall. In the center of the hall hangs a plaque titled "Zhongfu Hall" by Haining Chen Bangyan, a Hanlin scholar during the Kangxi period, to warn future generations that "doing more good deeds and accumulating virtue in daily life will surely make your descendants blessed in the future."

Huanxiu Bridge

Huanxiu Bridge was built in 1581 (the ninth year of Wanli in the Ming Dynasty). It spans Xiaotong and Beicui at that time and is the earliest high-rise bridge in Xitang Town. bridge. Legend has it that in the past, standing on the top of the bridge on a sunny day, you could look north at the green mountains on the edge of Taihu Lake. The stone arch bridge was rebuilt in 1997. There is a couplet here: the boat passes through the jasper ring, and the people walk up the rainbow belt, describing the two ways of crossing the bridge. The boat ride goes through the jasper ring, while the walking route goes up the rainbow belt. This couplet is derived from the couplet on the Zhaozhou Bridge in Hebei Province: water flows from the jade ring, and people go up on the back of the blue dragon.