Excursions - The Rough Guide to Shanghai - page 143

She Shan and the canal towns

She Shan 佘山 shé shān

Zhouzhuang 周庄 zhōu zhuāng

Shen House 沈厅 sh ! n tīng

Xitang 喜糖 x x táng

Xitang Youth Hostel 喜糖国际青年旅舍 x x táng guójì qīngnián lüshè

Tongli 同里 tóngl l

Tuisi Garden 退思园 tuìsī yuán

Sex Museum 中华性文化博物馆 zhōnghuá xìngwénhuà bówùgu n

It's a pleasant walk up the hill at any time of year, or a cable-car ride if you
prefer (¥20), past bamboo groves and the occasional ancient pagoda. Also on the
hill are a meteorological station and an old observatory , t he latter
containing a small exhibition room displaying an ancient earthquake-detecting
device - a dragon with steel balls in its mouth that is so firmly set in the ground
that only movement of the earth itself, from the vibrations of distant earth-
quakes, can cause the balls to drop out. The more balls fall, the more serious the
earthquake.
To reach She Shan, take a bus from the stop outside the Wenhua Guangchang
on Shaanxi Nan Lu, just south of Fuxing Lu, or tour bus #1 from the Shanghai
Stadium; services leave between 7 and 9am and return at around 3pm (¥12).

The canal towns
An extensive canal system once transported goods all around imperial China,
and the attractive water towns that grew up around them - notably
Zhouzhuang , Xitang and Tongli - present some of eastern China's most
distinctive urban environments. Whitewashed Ming and Qing timber buildings
back onto the narrow waterways, which are crossed by charming humpback
stone bridges; travel is by foot or punt as the alleys are too narrow for cars.
Today, these sleepy towns are a popular escape from the city, and each has
become a nostalgia theme park for the urban sophisticate. They're fine as day-
trips but don't expect much authenticity - there are far more comb shops than
dwellings - and don't come on weekends, when they're overrun. All charge an
entrance fee , which also gets you into the historical buildings, mostly the
grand old houses of wealthy merchants.

Zhouzhuang
Twenty kilometres west of the city, just across the border into Jiangsu province,
ZHOUZHUANG (¥120) is the most accessible of the canal towns. Buses
make the run regularly from the Sightseeing Bus Centre stop by Shanghai
Stadium (1hr 30min; buses depart at 7am, 8.30am, 9am, 9.30am and 10am, and
return between 4.30 and 5.30pm).
Lying astride the large Jinghang Canal connecting Suzhou and Shanghai,
Zhouzhuang grew prosperous from the area's brisk grain, silk and pottery
trade during the Ming dynasty. Many rich government officials, scholars and
artisans moved here and constructed beautiful villas, while investing money

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