Zhujiajiao

A closer destination for the day trip this time, the ancient water village of Zhujiajiao (朱家角). It was founded about 1700 years old and artifacts from 5000 years ago have been found. It's off a major east west highway so it is reached by bus. The website said that the bus terminus was off Peoples Square. I assumed that it would be near the shopping street Nanjing Road. That was dumb of me, I should have checked the map. In the event it turned out to be on the southern edge of Peoples Park. But I did get to walk around the block and in the park and see a couple more public buildings. This is the Shanghai Grand Theatre with its unique fusion of east and west architectural styles.

This is the Shanghai Art Museum. There is a luxury restaurant called Kathleen's 5 on the rooftop with great views over the park with the Shanghai skyline as a backdrop. Maybe one day I'll win the lottery, stay in a posh hotel and come here for dinner. Mmm.

This is the old Shanghai Concert Hall. I noted from the posters that they were holding a jazz week and that on my last night in Shanghai, Eliane Elias, the brilliant and beautiful Brazilian composer and pianist was playing. (I protest that my judgement was not affected by the poster showing cleavage; I have a few of her albums.) Maybe I could attend the concert as a top note to end my Shanghai visit. But when I visited the booking website later, it was so complicated. You had to register interest in the event, then they would notify you if you had a chance of buying a ticket. I gave that up. So much bureaucracy in this country, sigh.

I dozed off in the bus. There wasn't anything to see from the highway anyway, just a flat plain. We were deposited in a bus depot that had seen better days. I wandered a bit looking for the entrance to the water village and finally found the vehicular entrance, which turned out to be the back entrance as the front of the village fuses into the modern town.

One of the old stone bridges spanning canals.

The canal, from the bridge.

Boats are still used for transport in this village.

I had a ticket for several sights in the village, and one was Kezhi Gardens (课植园). It dates from 1912. A fortune was spent constructing it, but it suffered damage during the following decades of turmoil and was finally restored recently.

One of the more colourful residents.

This is Fangsheng Bridge (放生桥), the major one in the village.

And from the apex you get a good view of the canal and cruise boats.

But to me the most interesting attraction my ticket admitted me to was the Qing Dynasty Post Office. The displays explained how postal services were organised in China in that era.

And of course Chinese and food go together. Here's a shop selling many varieties of confectionery.

A zong (粽, glutinous rice with filling wrapped in bamboo leaves) shop.

Seasoned pork hocks if I'm not mistaken.

Keeping the seafood fresh.

Pomegranates.

And now a bit of levity. Does this cafe's name mean they welcome hobos, or that people are encouraged to plonk themselves down on the seats? Joking aside, it seems that this is a well-known cafe, it gets mentioned in an online guide.


In an earlier age, the tea house would have been the centre for leisure and conversation. Just substitute coffee for tea and that describes the present day situation. Plus ça change...