Zhouzhuang Travel Forum

Anyone have visited the water villages other than ZhouZhuang near Shanghai? I've visited Zhouzhuang and wonder if other water villages will be as impressive as it?

You're better off going to Xitang in nearby Zhejiang province. Free_Cloud has an excellent page introducing this water village, which I think is the best one in the yangtze river delta region.
Two other less crowded Zhouzhuang alternatives are Tongli and Luzhi in Jiangsu province.

Wuzhen is also an attractive water village of zhejiang,which boasts one of the most well preserved architecture of Ming and Qing Dynasty.
one can also enjoy many delicious food there.

Wuzhen in Chinese? Is it Wu as the family with a mouth on top and Zhen means a town.
I have no idea of Free_Cloud, just know Tongli

Zhouzhuang probably is the most marketed thus crowded one. As others already said, if closer to Shanghai, then Zhu1 Jia1 jiao3, Tong2 li3, Lu4 Zhi2, mu4 du2, or just about any small towns in that area have similar scene.

My favorite: Xi Tang (I have some photos of Xi Tang - that's what Confucious said, you are welcome to take a look if intereted going, which is very easy to go from Shanghai).

Wu1 Zhen4: Wu1=black, dark like in Wu1 ya1, not the wu as one of the popular family names (though this Wu is a family name, but rare one). The reason (as I was told) the town was named Wu was because they use dark paint/asphalt (?) to paint the house for protection.

If you have to go to ZHou zhuang, and tasting local life is your objective, then stay over night, enjoy its late evening/night and early morning when no tourists group around.

Have a good time!

Thanks for the info. I agree that Zhouzhuang is tourism marketed. I've been there but didn't spend the night though the room rental is reasonable. Even early in the moring or late evening it's still very catering for tourists with that environment. It's good for a general taste of a water village and Ming mansions. As for atmosphere, I think the less-known towns around water canal would be better for a taste of the close genuine life style there. BTW, the museum in Zhouzhuang was interesting. Some