Xitang

Brief Introduction

In the north of jiashan county, zhejiang province, xitang is an ancient town with peaceful and beautiful environment. it features flat terrain, crisscrossed rivers, numerous, bridges, lanes and ceilinged corridors.

Ceilinged corridors are the most special scene in xitang construction. these corridors were originally built to make convenience for the residents trading on boats by the side of the rivers. each shop has a ceiling over the stone-slate road in front of its own house, and the ceilings connect with one another to form corridors. the longest ceiling stretches 1,300 meters, like a silk belt winding along the river.

Another feature of xitang is the ancient architecture which was well-preserved from the ming and qing dynasty. there are a total of 122 lanes, long and short, wide and narrow. five of them are longer than 100 meters. among all the lanes, shipi lane is the most famous.

Transportation

Highway:
 

Shanghai-Xitang: Special tourist bus line leaves from shanghai at 9:00 am at the weekends. the bus journey is about 2 hours.
Jiashan- Xitang: Take a bus or train from shanghai to jiashan first then proceed your journey to xitang via bus. a bus leaves from jiashan bus station to xitang every 5 minutes. travelers can also choose to hire a taxi from jiashan for 25 -3o yuan.

Accommodations

Xitang is a newly opened tourist attraction. hotels in xitang are mainly of budget level with simple facilities. many foreigners who visited xitang choose to stay at jiaxia, a small city 1.5 hours drive from xitang.

Food

One of the finest pleasures visitors can experience in xitang is its delicious local food. located in the fertile yangtze delta with abundant rivers, xitang is famous for its fish dishes. the place around the fengqiao bridge is one of the best places to sample xitang food. qiantang restaurant next to the bridge is the favorite of many.

Tourist Attractions

Ancient Lanes: Ancient time-worn streets crisscross xitang town. in total, there are about 122 small lanes in xitang town, all of which were paved with stone slats. line along these lanes are these hundreds-years-old house which still home to the locals. of all the 122 lanes, the shipi lane is the best preserved.. it is situated at the west side of zhongfu hall in the west street, with a total length of 68 meters. the lane is about 1 meter at the widest but the narrowest point is only 80 centimeters. it is paved with 166 stone planks which are only 3 centimeters thick, which is really hard to be chisel from the granite. that is why it is called shipi (the skin of the stone) lane. walking through the long quiet lane with stained tall walls is just like traveling through the town's long history in a spatio-temporal tunnel.

Xiyuan Garden: In the garden, trees, grass, flowers, towers, bridges, lakes, waterfalls are harmoniously integrated. 

Xue's House: xue's house is a typical wooden building of the rich merchant of that region in the later qing dynasty.

Wangxian Bridge: The bridge was built in song dynasty more than a thousand years ago. the name of bridge is associated with a interesting legend that one taoist once stood on the bridge to watch immortal spirits. wangxian means to watch immortal spirits in english.