Wuzhen is located in Tongxiang City, the northern plain of Zhejiang Province. It takes more than an hour by car to take the expressway from Hangzhou. The flat terrain, dense rivers and scattered ripples here make Wuzhen have a strong water town feature, giving people an elegant but unobtrusive, fresh and uncomplicated natural beauty.
Although Wuzhen has experienced more than 2,000 years of vicissitudes, it still completely retains the original style and pattern of the ancient water town. The whole town is connected by the river and Qiaojie, and the houses are built by the river. The house is deep, with high ridges and high eaves. Langfang is a river port, with arcades crossing the street, bamboo and stone fences and Shuige by the river. Antique, integrated with water and town, presents a quaint, clean and quiet school style. It is a typical "small bridge and flowing water family" in Jiangnan.
First, Wuzhen model
In Wuzhen, the river network overlaps with the main road, bridges into roads, and ships run in flowing water, making it in the form of roads and water. This water network system connects the ponds and wells of the Beijing-Hangzhou Canal, Taihu Lake and Wuzhen, and ideally solves the water problems such as farming, drinking water, drainage, viewing and transportation.
In the layout of Wuzhen, because it spans two provinces (Zhejiang and Jiangsu), three places (Jiaxing, Huzhou and Suzhou) and seven counties (Wucheng, Gui 'an, Chongde, Tongxiang, Xiushui, Wujiang and Zhenze), and the accumulation and precipitation of Wuyue culture, it is obviously influenced conceptually by China's traditional Confucian culture and canal business culture. Confucian culture often rejects the popular geomantic omen theory in architecture, so it is rare to see inclined doors on the left, shadow walls avoiding rushing, or symbolic towns such as "Taishan Shi Gandang" placed in the road, but various houses with distinct axes and simple order.
In addition, I also visited the commercial buildings such as Luge Teahouse, the workshop where senior engineers were born and rotten, and Hongyuantai Dyeing House. Huiyuan Pawnshop is located in Changfeng Street, with a dark word "dang", the counter is 1.8 meters high, and it has a strong commercial atmosphere. This is also a very different place from other ancient towns in Jiangnan.
Two. Shui Ge
Like many water towns in the south of the Yangtze River, streets and houses are built along streams and rivers, which is the so-called "people do their best to pillow the river". Wuzhen is unique in that some houses along the river extend to the river surface, the bottom of which is hit on the riverbed with wooden stakes or columns, and the beams are put on the shelves, which is called "Shui Ge", which is a unique feature of Wuzhen. Shui Ge is a real "pillow river" with windows on three sides, from which you can see the scenery of the city river. Mao Dun once described Shui Ge in his hometown in "Mountains and Rivers": "Ah ... there is a river outside the back door. Standing at the back door (that's Shui Ge's door), you can draw water with a bucket. When you wake up in the middle of the night, you can hear screams floating past ..."
Legend has it that Shui Ge was built by a resourceful tofu, but with the passage of time, a lot of history has vanished. Only this architectural form, which integrates practicality and life enjoyment, can be preserved and continued because of people's love.
In a sense, Shui Ge is the aura of Wuzhen, although it is not luxurious, and it is difficult to compare with high-rise buildings. With Shui Ge, Wuzhen people are closer to water; With Shui Ge, Wuzhen's style is more charming; With Shui Ge, Wuzhen's temperament is more elegant; With Shui Ge, the history of Wuzhen has added a euphemism. Shui Ge is the originality and charm of Wuzhen.
The clear water winds, the small bridge flows, and the sound of water unfolds slowly in front of us like a picture of Shui Ge. Watching people from water towns live and work in Shui Ge, and listening to people from ancient towns calling one after another. Shui Ge in Wuzhen is loved by more and more people for its unique charm.
3. Small bridges and flowing water
Bridge is an indispensable factor in the ancient town of Jiangnan water town. It is said that there are at most 120 bridges in Wuzhen calendar, which is really a "hundred steps and one bridge", and there are more than 30 existing bridges.
Among them, there are Tongji Bridge and Renji Bridge in Tashi, Yingjia Bridge, Taiping Bridge, Renshou Bridge, Yong 'an Bridge and Fengyuan Double Bridge in Zhong Shi and Dongzha. South Gate has Fuxing Bridge and Fulan Bridge; There are Tiyun Bridge and Li Ji Bridge in Beizha.
These bridges were first built in the Southern Song Dynasty, and most of them were built or rebuilt in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. Some are also engraved with bridges, such as Tongji Bridge: "In the cold trees and smoke, the old place of the Six Dynasties is exhausted; Outside the sunset sail, there are several distant mountains in Xing Wu. " (facing south) "Tongyunmen opens tens of thousands of miles in the waters of western Zhejiang; The title bridge people look at Yanjing three thousand miles north. " (facing north) has a strong historical and cultural atmosphere.