Wuzhen Old Town

Exclusive China Tour Packages

Wuzhen is located in Tongxiang, north of Zhejiang Province, lying within a triangle formed by Hangzhou, Shanghai and Suzhou. With a history of over 6,000 years, Wuzhen was once named Wudun and Qingdun.

Because the town is divided by a river, the town on the west bank was called Wu and on the east Qing. After the founding of the People’s Republic of China, the town on the west bank became the part of Tongxiang County and was renamed Wuzhen. Mao Dun, the famous writer in China, was born in WIzhen in 1896. In Wuzhen, there are some must-see sites including Hundred-bed Museum, Folk Customs Museum, Sanbai Alcohol Workshop and Hongyuan Tai Dye House.

With an area of over 13,000 square feet (1,200 square meters), Hundred-bed Museum is the first museum which collects and displays ancient beds of China. Here you can see many magnificently carved traditional Chinese beds. The whole museum is divided into two halls. The first hall displays the beds of the Ming Dynasty which used wooden frames in simple shapes and balanced proportions. The second hall exhibits beds from the Qing Dynasty. The most precious among these beds is the Babu Thousand Workday Bed. With very exquisite carvings, this bed was made of boxwood and took three years to finish.

Folk Customs Museum was once the house of Jin, a rich family in the south of China. The collections here all related with marriages, birthday-celebrations, and general customs and etiquette in the south of China. The costumes hall presents the customary dress from about 100 years ago by way of photographs, wax figures and authentic clothes dating from that period.

The wedding customs hall displays the happy scene of weddings through the wax figures of bride, groom, parents and matchmakers. The birth-celebration’s customs hall features the ancient articles related to the elders’ birthday. This hall highlights the Chinese tradition of respecting elders.

Sanbai Alcohol, also named Duta Alcohol, was first brewed during the early Ming Dynasty. The alcohol boasts a its rich scent, mellow smell, and silky and smooth mouth feel. So it was on the list of tributes in the Ming Dynasty. These days, Sanbai Alcohol Workshop is the only place to find this type of liquor.

Hongyuan Tai Dye House was founded during the Song Dynasty. Hongyuan Tai Dye House still uses the traditional way to make cloth. Here is the best place to witness the painstaking process of how to make the world famous Chinese blue calico.