Ask a QuestionWuzhen Ancient Water Town is sited in Tongxiang, Jiaxing City, Zhejiang Province, China. It is only 1.5 hours driving from Hangzhou, or 2 hours driving from Shanghai. Very convenient. Since its foundation in thousand years ago, Wuzhen has never changed its name, location, waterways, or way of life. Traditional buildings remain intact today even after hundreds years of weathering. The numerous canals that flow across Wuzhen divide the ancient water town into four main scenic sections, which are respectively known as Dongzha(东栅), Nanzha(南栅), Xizha(西栅), and Beizha(北栅) by the locals. But usually tourists visit to Dongzha(东栅) or Xizha(西栅) Scenic Area only. Nanzha(南栅) and Beizha(北栅) still belong to residential area of local people. They has not been developed into a tourist attraction yet, and there are quite limited things to see there.
Those who have come to Wuzhen Ancient Water Town know that the entrance ticket of Dongzha and Xizha Scenic Area in Wuzhen is charged separately. You can also buy a combination ticket to visit both of them. Then which part should you visit? Dongzha or Xizha? Please kindly find the difference of Dongzha vs Xizha in Wuzhen Ancient Water Town, which may help with your Wuzhen trip plan.
| Dongzha | Xizha | Dongzha&Xizha | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Opening hours | 7:00-18:00 | 9:00-22:00 | |
| Ticket Price | 110CNY | 150CNY | 190CNY |
| Area | Small | Large | |
| Highlights | Sightseeing and folk performances | Comprehensive water town experience, gorgeous night view |
Dongzha Scenic Area is open to tourists in 2001, while Xizha Scenic Area is open to tourists in October, 2006.
Dongzha still contains its authentic village style and rich cultural heritage after although being developed into a tourist site. Xizha Sceni Area was developed as the Wuzhen protection Project Phase II. It covers an area of three square kilometers and is adjacent to the ancient Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal. Tourists need to take a ferry to enter Xizha.
Usually, tourists who book Wuzhen tour through travel agencies would be arranged to visit Dongzha Scenic Area only. It is possible to visit both Dongzha and Xizha in a day, but you need to arrange reasonable your stay in each one.
If you have enough time, it is suggested to stay one night in Wuzhen, to admire the charming night view of this ancient town decorated with traditional Chinese red lanterns. Wuzhen looks quite attractive at night when all the red lanterns are lighted on. Both Dongzha and Xizha offer hotel accommodation for tourists.
Xizha has few local residents and has instead given over to accommodation for tourists. The homestay or guest houses are managed by Wuzhen Tourism Development Company, not by the owners of houses. The price is unified and a little expensive. But the facilities in homestay or guest houses may be more considerate and comfortable.
Dongzha maintains the basic original layout while Xizha has been reconstructed to reproduce the ancient appearance of the water town. There are some local residents living in Dongzha. And the homestay or guest houses are owned by the local residents themselves, not by the tourism company. The price is much cheaper, and you can even do bargaining with the owner.
Dongzha is more suitable for visit to get to know the local fold customs and culture. Most of historic and cultural sites of Wuzhen Water Town is in Dongzha Scenic Area, including Ancient Bed Museum, Folk Customs Museum, Wine Distillery Workshop, Shadow Play,Indigo Fabric Workshop(Wuzhen East Scenic Zone), etc.. The biggest highlight of Dongzha is the folk performances, such as shadow plays, martial arts performances, Huagu Opera on boats, and bamboo pole climbing.
Xizha Scenic Area is more like Lijiang Ancient Town in Yunnan. There are a lot of hotels, bars, souvenir shops, etc.. But there are some historic sites for you to explore, such as Water Market, Wedding Museum, Chinese Footbinding Culture Museuum, Heal Town Pharmacy, Yida Silk Workshop, Indigo Fabric Workshop (Wuzhen West Scenic Zone), Chinese Footbinding Culture Museum, etc..
You will find the Dongzha is intereting, but Xizha is positive charming with modern entertainment.
Former Residence of Muxin: Muxin was born in Dongzha, Wuzhen. He is a painter, poet and litterateur. At the Memorial Hall of Former Residence of Muxin, you can see the photos, paintings and manuscript of Muxin. The display of the hall, reception room, bookroom and studio are returned to the original state.
Jiangnan Ancient Bed Museum: Jiangnan Ancient Bed Museum has a collection of ancient beds in Jiangnan Area(southern of Yangtze River) from Ming and Qing dynasties. You can see the wooden beds of common people to wealthy merchants in Jiangnan. These beds are with exquisite carving and unique style. And we can find the superb craftsmanship and rich artistic creativity of people in the past.
Shadow play: Shadow play is one of the local operas in Wuzhen. With your ticket of Dongzha of Wuzhen, you can watch the shadow play performance in Dongzha, which is daily performance in 9:30(public holidays), 10:10, 11:10, 13:00, 14:00, 15:00 and 16:00. If you want to see the shadow play in Dongzha in Wuzhen, please pay attention to its perfomance time. And each performance lasts for 20 minutes.
Muxin Gallery: Muxin is a famous painter, poet and litterateur in China. Muxin Gallery mainly displays works of Muxin. This personal art gallery displays Mr. Mu Xin's paintings and literary works completely for the first time. There are five permanent special halls at Muxin Gallery, which consists of a painting hall, a literature hall, a prison manuscript hall and an image hall.
Mao Dun Literary Award Exhibition Hall: Wuzhen is the hometown of Mao Dun, a famous and important writer and litterateur in China. Since the 5th Mao Dun Literature Awards was awarded in Xiuzhenguan Square in Wuzhen, Wuzhen has become the permanent awarding place of Mao Dun Literature Awards. This museum is also a cultural window for tourists to learn about Mao Dun Literature Awards, get close to and feel the charm of these excellent novels.
Zhaoming Academy: Zhaoming Academy is named after Xiao Tong, the Prince of Southern Dynasties who studied in Wuzhen. The Academy is the largest library in the ancient towns of China. The statue of Prince Zhaoming and introductions of Wuzhen cultural celebrities are displayed in the front hall. At the main entrance, there is the stone archway of the Six Dynasties Legacy in the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty, which is a newly developed performance space for the 7th Wuzhen Drama Festival in 2019.
Flower-drum opera: Flower-drum opera, also known as Huagu Opera, and Tiaoxiangdan, belongs to Wuzhen local opera. Its theme comes from rural life, its plot is concise and lively, its tunes are lively and smooth, and it is sung in local dialect, with strong local characteristics.
Morning tea drinkers' performance time: Monday-Thursday 8:00-8:30, Friday-Sunday 8:30-9:00, holidays 10:00-10:30,13:30-14:00 (please note that the actual performance time will be different.)
The night view of Dongzha and Xizha is totally different. The night view of Dongzha is peaceful and silent with less crowds. And the night view of Xizha is gorgeous and impressive. If you prefer quiet night, you can choose Dongzha to enjoy your night. And if you like busy night view, Xizha is more recommended for you.
At Xizha at night, you can take the boat to enjoy the night view of Xizha of Wuzhen, stroll around the streets and stay overnight. Visiting Xizha at night, you will feel that you come back to the past and experience the life of the people in the past with the stunning night view. The colorful lights of the stores and buildings and the lights of the lanterns will be reflected on the rivers, the boats on the river and the persons on the boats both become the scenery.
If you have enough time, it is recommended that you visit both Dongzha and Xizha and stay in Xizha for a night. In the morning, you can visit Dongzha and stroll around Dongzha to see the attractions like Former Residence of Muxin, Jiangnan Ancient Bed Museum and folk performances like shadow play. In the afternoon, you can visit Xizha, stroll around Mao Dun Literature Exhibition Hall, Zhaoming Academy and Flower-drum Opera. And there are many places to go at Xizha, you can leave more time for exploring Xizha. At night, you can visit Xizha slowly and enjoy the stunning view of Xizha of Wuzhen at night, which is gorgeous and charming. There are plenty of things to do at night at Xizha.
And if you have limited time, you can visit Xizha only. Xizha is large with many temples, theatre, ancient bridges, exhibition halls and historical sites in Xizha, where you can stroll around it slowly. The Wuzhen Post Office in Xizha was built in Qing Dynasty, which is still operated now. There are market on the water at Xizha in Wuzhen, which you can occasionally see now.
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