What are the characteristics of Hangzhou and Suzhou? Which of them is closer to Wuzhen? What fun places are there in Wuzhen?

“There is heaven above and Suzhou and Hangzhou below”, which is the collective name of Suzhou and Hangzhou. It can be seen that both places are very beautiful places. But there are differences between the two.

Suzhou is famous for its gardens, and Hangzhou is famous for its West Lake. The world-famous Wuzhen is located in Hangzhou.

Famous attractions in Wuzhen:

Dongzha Scenic Area: Officially opened to the public in 2001, the first phase of the scenic area covers an area of ??approximately 0.46 square kilometers, with a protected building area of ??nearly 60,000 square meters, and a tour length of 2 kilometers. It is composed of Dongzha Old Street, Guanqian Street, riverside water pavilion and corridor sheds.

Xizha Scenic Area: Located on West Street, adjacent to the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, there are highways directly leading to Suzhou and Tongxiang urban areas in Jiangsu Province, with convenient transportation. Unlike Dongzha, which is mainly about tourism, Xizha is mainly about business travel and leisure vacations. It covers an area of ??4.92 square kilometers, has more than 9,000 meters of rivers, and 72 ancient bridges. The density of rivers and the number of stone bridges are the highest among Chinese ancient towns. There are 250,000 square meters of Ming and Qing Dynasty buildings, the Xizha Old Street is 1.8 kilometers long, and the water pavilions on both sides of the river stretch for 1.8 kilometers. In the north is a natural wetland of more than 50,000 square meters.

Jiangnan Hundred Beds Museum: It is the first museum in China that specializes in collecting and exhibiting Jiangnan ancient beds. It is located at No. 210 East Street, also known as the Zhao Family Hall, with an area of ??about 1,200 square meters. It collects and exhibits Dozens of exquisite ancient Jiangnan beds from the Ming, Qing and modern times. The first exhibition hall displays: Ming Dynasty horseshoe-footed large pen-tube canopy bed, etc., which adopt the wooden frame structure to emphasize the linear image of the furniture shape; the second exhibition hall displays the Qing Dynasty Babu Qiangong bed, which is made of boxwood and has a long 217 cm, 366 cm deep and 292 cm high, with three stacks at the front and back. It took 3 years to carve and more than a thousand workers, hence the name.

Jiangsu and Zhejiang Branch: In the Ming Dynasty, it was called the Zhejiang Branch and was a unique government agency in the history of Wuzhen. His duties include patrolling salt and catching thieves, and also handling local litigation. He is commonly known as the Second Government Office. From its establishment during the Jiajing period of the Ming Dynasty to its cancellation at the beginning of the Republic of China, it went through several revolutions and restorations and changed its location several times, lasting more than 370 years.

Jiangnan Folk Customs Museum: displays the folk customs of Wuzhen from the late Qing Dynasty to the Republic of China related to birthday celebration etiquette, marriage and childbirth customs, seasonal festivals and other folk customs. Wax figures create a live drama of weddings. The Clothing and Customs Hall displays the folk clothing customs of Jiangnan more than a hundred years ago through different means such as physical objects, wax figures, and photos. The festival customs hall tells the different living customs of Wuzhen people in different solar terms of the year, such as New Year greetings during the Spring Festival, walking on the bridge during the Lantern Festival, the Qingming Incense Market, people weighing people in the Beginning of Summer, eating rice dumplings at the Dragon Boat Festival, the Water Dragon Festival, sun-drying insects, Zhongyuan River Lanterns, and Mid-Autumn Festival. Appreciating the moon, climbing on the Double Ninth Festival, worshiping ancestors during the Winter Solstice, etc., showcase the festivals and customs of Jiangnan water towns.

The wedding customs hall is centered on the wedding hall and worship hall, and displays the lively scene of the wedding through characters such as the couple, matchmaker, parents, and physical objects such as sedan chairs and dowries. The longevity custom hall has the theme of birthday celebrations for the elderly, displaying the auspicious scenes in the hall as well as calligraphy and paintings, longevity banners, longevity peaches, longevity noodles and other birthday items.

Jiangnan Wood Sculpture Exhibition Hall: Originally the Xu family residence in Dongzha, also known as Baihua Hall, it is famous for its exquisite wood carvings. The side room of the main room displays exquisite ancient Chinese wood carvings. The wood carvings are rich in materials, including folk legends such as "Eight Immortals Crossing the Sea" and "Guo Ziyi's Birthday Celebration", life scenes such as "Fishing", "Cricket Fighting", "Beating Gongs and Drums", etc., as well as "Dragon and Phoenix Presenting Good Luck", "Squirrel Eating Grapes", Traditional patterns such as "Plum, Orchid, Bamboo and Chrysanthemum" depict the folk customs with local characteristics of Jiangnan.

Yu Luoliang Coin Museum: Yu Luoliang, a native of Wuzhen, is a master coin collector. He is the author of "Spending Money in China", "Chinese Appreciation and Collection", "Coins", "Coin Talk", He has published more than ten academic monographs such as "Outline of Numismatics" and "World Circulation Coins". It has been collected for 40 years and has more than 26,000 kinds of coins from more than 230 countries and regions in the world, including metal currency, banknotes, money, etc., made of gold, silver, copper, iron, tin, aluminum, lead, and antimony. , pottery, nickel, paper, bamboo, bone, colored glaze, plastic, etc. 15 kinds, ranging from Xia and Shang to modern times.

Wenchang Pavilion: There is a pavilion on the river port in front of Zhizhi Academy, named Wenchang Pavilion. There is a narrow Guanqian Street between the academy and the pavilion. In the old days, when scholars came to Wenchang Pavilion, they were usually accompanied by servants in small boats. The boat was moored at your pier. The scholar went upstairs, while the servants sat on the benches on both sides of the aisle and waited.

Cultivation View: In Wuzhen Zhongshi. In the first year of Xianping in the Northern Song Dynasty (998), the Taoist priest Zhang Dongming settled here, achieved Taoism, and founded the "Cultivating Concept". Together with Suzhou Xuanmiao Temple and Puyuan Xiangyun Temple, it is known as the Three Great Dao Temples in Jiangnan, and its status is extremely high. The Xiuzhen Temple has three entrances, the first entrance is the mountain gate, the second entrance is the Dongyue Hall, and the third entrance is the Jade Emperor Pavilion; on both sides there are ten auxiliary halls such as the King of Hell, Marshal Wen, and the God of Wealth; the square in front of the mountain gate is wide and spacious. There is a large abacus hanging directly above the mountain gate, with a couplet written below: "Man has a thousand calculations, but God has one calculation", which is very warning.

Mao Dun’s Former Residence: It is a national key cultural relic protection unit in China. It is located at No. 17 Guanqian Street on the east side of Shihe River. It is a four-bay, two-entry, two-story wooden structure building facing north and south, with a total area of ??about 450 square meters. square meters. It is divided into east and west units and was purchased by Mao Dun's great-grandfather in two parts. Including bedrooms, study rooms, dining rooms, etc., the furniture and layout are still as they were when Mao Dun lived there.

Ancient stage: Xiu Zhen Guan stage is an ancillary building of the Taoist temple. It was built in the 14th year of Qianlong in the Qing Dynasty (1749). Like Xiu Zhen Guan, it has been repeatedly damaged. The existing building was renovated in 1919 and covers an area of ??204 square meters. It faces Xiuzhen Temple across Guanqian Street to the north, Dongshi River to the south and Xinghua Bridge to the east.

The platform has two floors and a gabled roof. The ground floor is surrounded by bricks and stones, with a side door and a front door. The side gate leads to the river port. There is a small staircase at the back of the ground floor that leads to the balcony, and you can also go down from the river port to the boat through the flap door. The balcony is divided into two parts: the rear part is the dressing room; the front part is the stage, facing the square.

The saying "There is heaven above and Suzhou and Hangzhou below" can be traced back to the Tang Dynasty. It can be divided into two halves. The first half compares Jiangnan to heaven. Ren Hua, a poet of the Tang Dynasty, once chanted in "Song of Master Huaisu in Cursive Script": "People say you come from the south of the Yangtze River, but I say you come from the sky!" This should be the origin of comparing Jiangnan to heaven. Prior to this, Jiangnan had been called the "Beautiful Land" because of its prosperity in the Southern Dynasties, and there was no precedent for comparing it to the sky. The reputation of "Beautiful Land" continued in the Tang Dynasty, and had the potential to squeeze other places out of this category. This has an important relationship with Bai Juyi's product title. Later, Suzhou and Hangzhou also became synonymous with rich, beautiful and livable places.