#luxiang

I went to Luxiang Ancient Village last weekend. It's located on one of the islands on Taihu Lake in Suzhou City. There were three things that stuck out about that weekend.

One. the architecture was beautiful,  The residents actually live in the village and own the Halls.

Two. I totally misjudged the weather. The day before was warm and sunny; that day was wet and cold. It was.... so.... cold. The little guy in the picture totally depicts how I was feeling that day.

Three. i have been to a few Ancient Villages, and they are stating to look alike. I was searching through my photos for this blog post and a village i went to in Anhui looked a lot like Luxiang. 

Here is some information about Luxiang....

Boasting the best architecture quality and most quantity in the southern range of the Yangzte River Delta, Luxiang ancient town got its fame due to the 1995-year movie, "Shanghai Triad" (摇啊摇, 摇到外婆桥), directed by world-renowned Zhang Yimou, and staring Gong Li. The town therefore won itself another name, "Gong Li Island".

Built in the Southern Song dynasty (1127-1279), the ancient town is filled with various old streets featuring the Ming dynasty (1368-1644) style as well as well an array of preserved old villages with a history of thousands of years. There used to be many famous people living in the town, including 41 scholars and 2 Zhuangyuan, or top contestants in former imperial examinations.

There are around 30 Ming and Qing dynasty (1644-1912) old buildings maintained in the town at present, encompassing 10,000 square kilometers. Villagers live a simple life near Mt. Hangu. Six lanes in the town lead to Taihu Lake. Walking through the worn long lanes, you may feel like walking through an episode of history.