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:
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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
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 .
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
- The official website of Xitang in English ( Memento from April 28, 2015 in the Internet Archive )
- A travelogue about Xitang, written in German
Coordinates: 30 ° 57 ' N , 120 ° 53' E