We arrived early when the parking lot and the streets were about empty. That’s the best time to get there.
Zhouzhuang, originally built in 1086, is surrounded by water. Boats are needed even for short trips.
The town is well known for its preservation of numerous buildings from the Ming and Qing Dynasties.
Zhouzhuang, the Venice of Asia, is on the United Nations Reserve List for the World Cultural Heritage and the Dubai International Best Practice to Improve the Living Environment.
As you can see, it gets crowded. Most of these tourists were Chinese citizens from the growing middle class.
This is where I was a photo thief. I wanted to take a picture of these captured birds but the owners wouldn’t let me. He pointed at a sign that said I’d have to pay.
I walked a distance and used my meager telephoto lens to take this shot of the birds tied to the owner’s boat.
If you enjoyed this photo essay, see the Li River Cruise
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Lloyd Lofthouse is the award-winning author of the concubine saga, My Splendid Concubine & Our Hart. When you love a Chinese woman, you marry her family and culture too.
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