Zhujiajiao Water Town

Restored canal town 47 km west of central Shanghai. Half-day boat trip option, less crowded than Suzhou's Tongli or Zhouzhuang.

Zhujiajiao was a Ming-era market town on the canals west of Shanghai. The 36 stone bridges and the canal-and-shophouse layout survived. The Fangsheng (Setting-Free) Bridge is the main set-piece. Boat trips run through the canals; the central old streets are pedestrianised. Half-day trip from central Shanghai works well combined with the wider eastern-China water-town circuit (Tongli, Wuzhen, Xitang).