China Shanghai Travel to Water Town Zhouzhuang

This ancient town is about an hour from the center of Shanghai by taxi and offers a glimpse into the China tour past (and perhaps into life outside of the big cities of China). We enjoyed a relaxing stroll along the shop lined waterways and then had a nice lunch on the water. Lots of shops and vendors. A beautiful area with lots to see.
Although it rained on and off when we visited, it was still a charming place to visit: small canals, picturesque arched bridges, and boatmen and women rowing the slow boats. We also took the electric power boat Shanghai tours with the guide pointing out expensive villas built along the lake, remanent of an old village, the treasure bowl passed down from a local luminary, named Shen Wanshan, in Ming dynasty, etc. Slow cooked pig feet, that melt in your mouth, was sold in so many stores, supposedly cooked in the recipe from that family.

Evening show with the theme of four seasons and subtitles in four different languages was very interesting as the stage and the audience were separated by more than twenty feet of water. Soon you realized its significance, as water and waterway were intimately woven into the life of the town. The finale was a lady, standing at the edge of a rowing boat, to threw a big red hydrangea-like ball to the China tours audience to pick a groom.to get on the stage.
Well, not really like Venice, but sort of and on a much smaller scale. This place is charming. There are many small shops, mainly souvenirs. There are also many restaurants, some with seating right Yangtze River cruises  along the canal. You can take a boat, that is paddled along by an oars person, a la a gondolier. It is very picturesque and worth the day trip from Shanghai.