Architectural Features of Wuzhen

Water chamber is a unique architecture form in Wuzhen.

The structure is really special.

Behind the waterside part of the house, people make wooden or stone poles to stand in the river, and then they put beams on them and put wooden boards on the beams, thus it forms the water chamber.

The formation of water chamber mainly because most of the people in town do business.

The left and right parts of the house are neighbors, and front part is street, thus, constructing water chamber is the only way to expend business area.

It not only expands the house area but also a convenient place to do business.

With a typical Hui-style architecture, the buildings in Wuzhen mainly are constructed with white wall and black tiles.

The environment of the south part of China is rich in colorful flowers throughout the year.

The exterior walls of residential buildings are mostly white, which is good for reflecting sunlight.

Especially in the summer, the colors of houses are simple and elegant, giving a fresh and pleasant feeling.

The general carving patterns are animals, plants and character stories, which functions as a symbol of longevity and happiness.

That is an expression of good wishes of the ancient people.

Along the riverside of corridor shed, there are always backrest benches for people to rest which are called “beauty bench”.

We have an old saying "the longer sitting on the bench the younger and more beautiful you can become". It's a pleasant thing to sit on beauty bench and watch the shadow of houses in the river.

The name of beauty of bench was related to Beauty Shih Tzu. In the Spring and Autumn Period, Wuzhen was located in the border between the countries of Wu and Yue. The beauty Shih Tzu was born in the country of Yue.

When she was sent the country of Wu, she was homesick, so the king of Wu built such a facility for her to rest, so called beauty bench.

As a water town, Wuzhen has extensive watercourse and various bridges. It has up to 120 bridges and is said that there would be a bridge every one hundred steps.

In Wuzhen West Scenic Zone, we have conserved part of the old bridges and preserved some of them.

There are historical stone bridges, simple stone arch bridges and exquisite brick stone bridges, among which the majority are stone arch bridges.

The site was named after Xiao Tong, who was the crown prince of Liang (502-557) of the Southern Dynasties and endued the name Zhaoming after dying.

He once followed his teacher Shenyue to study in Wuzhen and built an academy here.

The Analecta edited and compiled by Xiao Tong was the first florilegium of poems and proses in China.

A narrow passageway in south China is called alley and “Hutong” in north China.

In ancient times, “Nong” referred to the narrow lane in palace and “Tang” in a temple, and gradually it got the mixed name “Nong Tang” which means alley still used today.