Less than an hour from Hangzhou is a millennia-old watery world of canals, boats and bridges.

SANDWICHED between the bustling commercial metropolis of Shanghai to the north and the cultural city of Hangzhou to the south are a cluster of quaint villages considered by many to be among the most charming in China.

For more than a thousand years, life in these “water villages” (shuixiang) has revolved around the canals and waterways that criss-cross the region. In the past decade, several of these hamlets have been restored and one of the most well-known is Wuzhen whose western divide (Xizha) is flanked by the Grand Canal.

It was raining when we arrived at the reception centre of Wuzhen’s Xizha which opened to the public only in 2007. Because of the weather we had to forego the boat-ride that would take us to the village proper via a canal that runs right through the settlement. Instead we boarded open shuttles that traversed a quiet stretch of cultivated land. After 15 or 20 minutes, we alighted at some vernacular-style buildings with pale walls and dark roofs that, in the early evening gloom, appeared deserted.

Wuzhen’s Xizha on a quiet morning. The canal was its main transport artery in times past.

We made our way through the dimly-lit corridors and soon found ourselves on Xizha’s flagstone-paved main street.

Some of the Qing period buildings along the street have been converted into guesthouses, each with several rooms. Those fronting the canal have windows that open into romantic views of water, boats and bridges. I was assigned a guesthouse away from the canal with no view but my quarters were bigger and less damp.

Xizha’s facilities are reasonably well-appointed largely due to the fact that both rooms and rates are standardised under central management, unlike at some historic towns where lodgings are operated by individual families. Interestingly, the employees at the inns are former local residents who moved to new homes to make way for a refurbishment that, according to the company, cost nearly a billion yuan (RM550mil).

Besides lodgings, Xizha’s main street is home to a variety of workshops housing artisans crafting daily items like painted folding fans, wooden buckets and cloth shoes, as well as a traditional wine shop with large jars of different varieties of rice brew.

Bustling Xitang demarcated the boundary between the ancient states of Wu and Yue 25 centuries ago.

One of the most well-known products of Wuzhen is an indigo-dyed fabric used to make everything from clothes to shoes to pouches. We breezed through a spiffed-up “factory” with dyeing vats and drying baskets while our guide explained the various stages of production.

Three years ago, I had an opportunity to observe how the patterns are made at Wuzhen’s eastern divide (Dongzha) which has similar workshops, including one making hand-spun cotton for the dyeing works. Unlike batik which utilises wax, the artisans use a bean flour paste to handprint designs on white cotton fabric prior to immersing it in blue pigment, after which the paste is dissolved to reveal intricate reverse-white motifs on a deep navy background.

The long bolts of blue and white cloth drying on tall posts in the yard displayed a profusion of floral patterns. That so many different designs can be created using just one colour is testament to the skill and ingenuity of the people who live in this 1,200-year-old water town.

Due to the inclement, weather we spent some time in Xizha’s Footbinding Museum which has a mind-boggling collection of tiny shoes to fit the “three-inch golden lotus” imposed on Chinese women since a concubine named Yao Niang started the practice in the 10th century.

There were single engagement shoes made to display the fine needlework skills of the bride and gorgeous red wedding shoes; coffin shoes with a ladder motif on the sole to help the deceased climb up to heaven; outer-shoes worn over sleeping shoes, and even rain shoes brushed with oil.

Boats waiting at one of the many jetties along Wuzhen’s canal.

Besides colour and style, the elaborate language of the tiny shoes dictated that embroidery motifs must be appropriate to one’s social rank, for example, lotus and laurel for officials’ wives and goldfish for rich families.

Further north toward Shanghai, the 2,700-year-old water town of Xitang is reputed to have especially good fengshui as its nine canals are said to represent nine dragons. Its claim to fame includes a 1,300m-covered corridor necessitated by the rainy climate. Some of the scenes in Tom Cruise’s Mission Impossible 3 were also filmed there.

Xitang’s crowded narrow streets are full of the usual shops selling handicrafts and local snacks, the most delectable (or repulsive depending on your point of view) being the stinky fermented bean curd (chou dofu) that, for aficionados, is an addiction like the durian. Though the bland millet zongzi (rice dumpling) left me unmoved, the local specialty – succulent pork leg braised in dark brown sauce was a gastronomic treat.

It is perhaps inevitable that thousands of visitors will converge on these delightful shuixiang. But on that rainy night in Wuzhen, few people were out on the stone street and it was then that we had a feel of the peaceful ambience of the watery enclaves of old.

Ziying can be reached at ziyingster@gmail.com.

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