There are many famous ancient water towns in Jiangsu, among which Tongli Ancient Town located in Wujiang City, Jiangsu Province is one of the most unforgettable water towns. At the same time, Tongli Ancient Town is also a national 5A-level tourist scenic spot, one of China's top ten famous historical and cultural towns, and one of China's top ten charming towns. It is also a tourist resort with charming and beautiful water towns.

Tongli Ancient Town Water Town (Photo: British Co-opted)

I remember that ten years ago, the reporter came here at the last stop of his Jiangsu trip with the "Walking into Qilu and Feeling Jiangsu and Zhejiang" collection group. On September 1, 2012, the reporter and his party drove away from Huaxi Village. After about an hour's drive, they successfully arrived at Tongli Ancient Town in front of the stone archway of the "Famous Historical and Cultural Town in China" inscribed by Mr. Fei Xiaotong. Dai Zhigang, then general manager of Suzhou Tongli International Tourism Development Co., Ltd., specially arranged for Mr. He Hong, then deputy general manager of the company, and Miss Qian Tingting from the Publicity and Activities Department to come and meet us.

Tongli Ancient Town Stone Arch (Photo: Feng Ganyong)

President He led reporters and his party into the ancient town. After passing through the stone archway in Tongli Ancient Town, it was the ancient town commercial street. The narrow street is lined with rows of shops. Colorful banners made of colorful merchant names hang high outside the store, and the atmosphere of simple merchants comes to your face. There is also an ancient stage near the commercial street. As he walked, Mr. He told us eloquently about the relevant situation in Tongli.

Tongli Ancient Town Commercial Street (Photo: Feng Ganyong)

Tongli was used to be called "Futu". In the early Tang Dynasty, its name was changed to "Tongli" because it was too extravagant. In the Song Dynasty, the two words "Futu" were superimposed on each other, pointed up, crossed in the middle, and removed the word "Tongli" and is still in use today. Tuisi Garden, the core scenic spot in Tongli, is a typical representative of Suzhou's classical garden art, a national cultural protection unit, and has been included in the "World Cultural Heritage" list. As a result, Tongli has become the only world cultural heritage site among the ancient towns in the Jiangnan water town.

A scene of the ancient town and water town (Photo: Wang Libao)

Tongli is known as the "Venice of the Orient" for its charm of "small bridges, flowing water, and people's homes". The ancient town is surrounded by five lakes. The ancient town is divided into 7 islands by 15 rivers crisscrossing the city. The 49 bridges built in various eras connect the islands into one, forming a street based on the water, a city around the water, and a water town style. "Five lakes are surrounded by the outside, and one town is contained in the middle","Every family is surrounded by water, every household is connected to boats, the water town is pure, and Jiangnan in the old days", these are the comments made on Tongli in the 2005 CCTV China Charming Town Selection Award Speech.

Tongli Ancient Town Grand Theater (Photo: Feng Ganyong)

Under the leadership of President He, the reporters and his party first visited Tuisi Garden. Tuisi Garden was built in the 11th to 13th year of Guangxu of the Qing Dynasty (1885-1887 AD). Lan Sheng, the director of the park, is also known as Wan Xiang and Nanyun. In the tenth year of Guangxu (1884 AD), Zhou Derunxun, a bachelor of the cabinet, and Ren Lansheng settled in Lijin to enrich himself.

Tuisi Garden Water Pavilion (Photo: Feng Ganyong)

In the first month of the 11th year of Guangxu (1885 AD), the post was dismissed and the ministry discussed dismissal. Ren Lansheng resigned from his post and returned to his hometown. He spent 100,000 taels of silver to build a homestead named "Tuisi". There is a sentence in his brother Ren Aisheng's poem crying for his brother,"The title is based on the period of retreat to make up for mistakes, and the vegetation of Pingquan are scattered together." It can be seen that the name of the garden is based on the meaning of "Zuo Zhuan","Thinking about loyalty, thinking about making up for mistakes when retreating".

Photo taken in Tuisi Garden (Photo: Wang Libao)

Tuisi Garden has a unique layout, with pavilions, terraces, buildings, pavilions, corridors, squares, bridges, pavilions, halls, halls, rooms and pavilions. With the pool as the center, the buildings are like floating on water. The layout is compact and natural, combined with plant configuration, embellishes the scenery of the four seasons, giving people a sense of clarity, tranquility and clarity.

Dawn scenery in Tongli (file photo)

In 1986, New York City, the United States, built a Jiangnan Garden with an area of 3,850 square feet based on Tuisi Garden in the city's Staten Island Botanical Garden, named "Tuisi Village." It can be seen that the small Tuisi Garden has jumped out of the country and entered the world.

Experience the fun of rowing (Photo: Feng Ganyong)

Not far from Tuisi Garden, you will come to the winding waterway, which also best reflects the characteristics of Tongli Water Town. Small boats passing by from time to time can be seen in the narrow river. The female driver standing at the stern, with her waist swinging gently and her arms rowing left and right, the scene in the water town is so harmonious and beautiful.

Scenery on both sides of the river (Photo: Feng Ganyong)

The reporters and his party took two small boats on the dock and began to rafting in the charming water town. When boats are swimming in the river, people can see rows of landscapes on both sides of the river constantly coming into people's eyes. The cries of various snack shops, tea shops, cafes, small commodity grocery stores, and shop owners that complement each other, the laughter and laughter of tourists, and the singing and singing of folk artists are endless, making people dizzying.

Front of a residential inn (Photo: Feng Ganyong)

Qian Tingting told reporters: It is said that Tongli in history was even more lively. There are many shops and people on both sides of the river. Rice line, bean and wheat coarse grains line; smelter line, dyeing line; Guangzhou goods line, oil cake line; paint line shop; tung oil line, wood line; fresh water line, vegetable land cargo line; carriage line, ship bureau, etc. As for teahouses and restaurants, theaters, bookyards, and smoke houses and brothels, they flourished because of the market; three religions and nine streams, divination of astrology, gathered together.

Foreign tourists from the water town (Photo: Feng Ganyong)

When it comes to Tongli water, there is a written record: Tongli water nourishes, Tongli water nourishes people. Tongli Town is surrounded by five lakes-Tongli Lake, Pangshan Lake, Yeze Lake, Nanxing Lake and Jiuli Lake.

Photo taken by boating (Photo: Feng Ganyong)

The style of Tongli Ancient Town may seem casual, but in fact it has its own special pattern: streets and rivers run parallel, bridges and roads are connected, rivers run from east to west, and bridges are built between north and south; with the river course as the main framework, it forms a street along the water, sets up a city around the water, and forms a garden by the water; Fifteen rivers with a total length of about six kilometers in the town intersect horizontally and horizontally, dividing the ancient town into seven islands; and the ancient bridge, built in various eras, connects the small islands into a whole, cleverly and naturally connecting rivers, bridges, streets, roads, houses and gardens.

Shuixiang Cafe (Photo: Feng Ganyong)

Boating in Tongli's water town, people can meditate and daydream, and quietly taste an artistic conception: the wind blows, the water connects to the water, the clothes are fluttering, and the mind flies. Old streets, alleys, teahouses, rice shops, river ports, fish boats, a scenery is a story or miracle. It contrasts with the lake and water, the bridge and the street. It is the strong tea after drinking, the flower buds after the rain, and a bowl of rock sugar lotus hearts after a nap. No matter where you look at it or where you look at it, it is beautiful, so beautiful that it makes people speechless.

Jili Bridge, Water Town (Photo: British co-opted)

The river in Tongli is the soul of the water town and the charming eyes of the water town day and night. The second is the bridge. Where rivers intersect streets and alleys, and where rivers stop citizens, bridges emerge. As many bridges as there are intersections between rivers and streets, there are as many bridges that bring convenience to people. The more crisscrossing rivers and streets, the more bridges there will be. Therefore, bridges have become the most distinctive representative building in Tongli Ancient Town.

Old Town Grandma (Photo: Feng Ganyong)

The boat turned a corner and saw several black-gray cormorant birds on a small boat at the fork of the river. It turns out that these cormorant birds specialize in catching fish in the water, and the cormorant birds 'catching fish on the water has become a scenery in Tongli. Hundreds of years have passed, but cormorants, a waterbird, are still leisurely wandering in Tongli. This is a kind of ecological protection and a reflection of green GDP.

Chongbentang, Tongli Ancient Town (file photo)

The cormorants were running back and forth on the water, with fish in their mouths and fish in their sacs. They were all fish in their eyes and hearts. The cormorants with black feathers shine with green luster convey warmth from ancient times: men work and women weave, and they have enough food and clothing. On days when the clouds were light and the wind was light, I didn't go anywhere. I just watched cormorants fishing at a certain water edge in Tongli. Gradually, my bones became calm and distant.

A quiet corner of the ancient town (Photo: Wang Jue)

After landing from the cruise ship, I came to an extremely quiet place. It is still on the river, but compared to the hustle and bustle of the many restaurants and snack bars on both sides of the river that I just passed by, this place seems to be a paradise.

Deep alleys (Photo: Feng Ganyong)

The reporter deeply felt that Tongli Water Town can be described as a good place to combine dynamic and static. Some people say that Tongli is not as lively as Zhouzhuang, while others say that Zhouzhuang can be visited and Tongli can be lived. The reporter felt that Zhouzhuang, which he had been to before, felt more lively than quiet.

Guzhen Chuanxin Lane (file photo)

Tongli has a long history and profound cultural heritage. According to historical records, Tongli Town was founded in the Northern Song Dynasty more than a thousand years ago. In history, there have been 1 champion, 42 scholars, and 93 scholars. In order to vividly display the culture of the ancient town to the world, since the 1980s, Tongli Ancient Town has been successively restored and opened to more than 20 scenic spots such as Tuisi Garden, Chongbentang, Jiayintang, Sanqiao, Ming and Qing Street,"Penglai Wonderland", Luoxingzhou, etc.,"Pearl Tower","Songshi Wu Garden", Xiaodian Lake "Forest Park","Chinese Sex Culture Museum", and "Ancient Wind Garden".

Photo taken in Tongli (Photography: British co-opted)

Among the many water towns in the south of the Yangtze River, Tongli presents the perfect combination of scenic spots and communities. The development of tourism in Tongli Scenic Area has promoted the protection of the ancient town. Today, nearly 10,000 indigenous people still live in the ancient town, showing the original flavor to domestic and foreign tourists every day. A live sitcom of Jiangnan life.

Group photo of the ancient town (Photo: He Hong)

When parting, General Dai told reporters: This year,"Millennium Ancient Town, World Tongli" has basically transformed from traditional ancient town sightseeing tours to ecological tours, upstream water, and rural tours. The construction and development of Xiaodian Lake Forest Park and Wuyuetian Ecological Farm, as well as the improvement of supporting facilities such as four five-star hotels and six four-star hotels with 2000 rooms will present a tourism complex to the world. In the reporter's opinion, Tongli Ancient Town will show its wonderful style and charm to the world with a more perfect image, and will surely attract more guests from home and abroad. (Photo and text: Feng Ganyong)