Xitang (西塘)
- Xitang Town is very unique among the old towns of the same rank nationwide for a great number of bridges, lanes and covered corridors. Rivers crisscross in the whole town and bridges are densely distributed. There are 104 bridges in the whole town. During the Song Dynasty, Xitang has 13 bridges, such as Anren Bridge, Anjing Bridge, etc. During Qing Dynasty, Anwolong Bridge, Duchan Bridge, Laifeng Bridge, etc were constructed. Most of these bridges are single-hole or three-hole stone pillar and wood beam bridges. Bridge gems have an exquisite craftsmanship. So far, they are well preserved and enjoy a highly admiring value-rated by Chinese and foreign tourists as "reclining dragon rises above water, rainbow soar in the sky". These bridges have a place in the history of Chinese stone hole bridges.
- The covered corridors of Xitang attract Chinese and foreign tourists for their graceful posture. Most of the streets in Xitang are covered with roofs, so merchants and passengers are not worried about rain and sunshine. Long chairs are arranged along the riverside of some covered corridors for people to have a rest. Most of covered corridors are made of bricks and wood and usually 2 -2.5m wide. They are centralized in commercial areas ,such as North Zha Street, South Zha Street and Zhao Nan Dai, with a total length of over 1000m .They can be used to seek shelter from rain or shade sunshine. One section is the most elegant, whose carved decorative patterns are hailed by tourists as the acme of perfection.
- Some old residences in Xitang, besides the architectural culture and cultural relic value of residences, historical cultural relics are displayed inside or bamboocarvings, woodcarvings, bricks, stones and eaves tiles collected by their owners are exhibited, or owners open the door to compare notes with the tourists from different places concerning music, chess, calligraphy and painting or exhibit collected ancient books and rare editions or rubbing from a stone inscription. Such folk culture exchange with a rich regional feature is a tourism form in Xitang full of interest.
- Hollywood film “Mission impossible III” was produced in Xitang. Join the trip with Tom Cruise!
