Xitang

Xitang ( 西塘镇 , Xitang Zhen ) is a large village in the county Jiashan the prefecture-level city Jiaxing the southern Chinese province of Zhejiang . The old “water town” is located in the Yangtze delta and is about 140 kilometers southwest of Shanghai . The nine canals that cross Xitang divide the “water city” into eight sectors, which are connected by 104 bridges. The canals form the transport system of the larger community. The administrative area of Xitang has an area of 82.92 km² and around 91,600 inhabitants (at the end of 2010, including the non-resident “resident population” of around 34,000 people). Xitang is one of the famous Six Ancient Large Communities of Jiangnan (江南六大古镇).

Administrative structure

Xitang is made up of four communities and 18 villages. These are:

Resident Community Xiyuan (西园社区), the seat of the municipal government;

Resident Community Chaonandai (朝南埭社区);

Resident Community Tangdong (塘东社区);

Resident Community Xijie (西街社区);

Cuinan Village (翠南村);

Dashun village (大舜村);

Didian village (地甸村);

Dizhao village (荻沼村);

Village Donghui (东汇村);

Hanshang village (邗上村);

Hechi village (荷池村);

Hongling village (红菱村);

Hualian Village (华联村);

Jinming Village (金明村);

Limiao village (礼庙村);

Qiandun village (茜墩村);

Village Shendao (沈道村);

Village Xiadianmiao (下甸庙村);

Xingjian Village (星建村);

Xinsheng Village (新胜村);

Yaque village (鸦鹊村);

Zhonghu Village (钟葫村).

history

Xitang was built on the model of other large communities, such as B. Nanxun and Wuzhen with its museum village Wuzhen Xizha . The numerous alleys and old houses go back to the Ming (1368–1644) and Qing (1644–1911) dynasties .

economy

Tourists raise a sky lantern

Tourism is one of the city's main sources of income. Mainly Chinese visit the quarter with its canals on which boat trips are offered. At night, the canals are lit up with lanterns, traditional music is performed and tourists launch small boats with candles into the water or sky lanterns .

Machines in the button factory

In addition, Xitang's economy is mainly based on handicrafts, although there are fewer craftsmen here than in Wuzhen.

Among other things, there is a factory where buttons for textiles are still made by hand. This button factory is open to the public. Therefore tourists can watch the craftsmen making the buttons.

Cormorant fishing is also practiced on the canals .

Trivia

In November 2005, some scenes from the American film " Mission: Impossible III " were shot in Xitang .

Web links

Commons : Xitang - collection of images, videos and audio files

The official website of Xitang in English ( Memento from April 28, 2015 in the Internet Archive )
A travelogue about Xitang, written in German

30.947198399167 120.888889Coordinates: 30 ° 57 ' N , 120 ° 53' E