The Venice of Shanghai

It was an early season pre-Spring afternoon when we had a chance to visit Zhujiajiao - Shanghai's Venice and most famous water town. It is an ancient town that was built on three canals. Even amidst the at times intense Sunday crowds, we were privileged to enjoy a few quiet moments of reflection - literally! - over the water.

There are many similarities to Venice actually - the quirky cobblestone streets that are too narrow for cars, the beautiful bridges full of character that enable people to traverse the canals, and of course the gondolas. Fortunately, Chinese gondoliers are not in the habit of singing. It would have been rough and at some points during the day the traffic on the canals was such that there was a veritable queue of gondolas cruising by. Singing would definitely not have been advantageous for anyone.

In an attempt to get a bit away from the crowds, we headed down a side street away from the “downtown” area toward where the locals actually lived. There we encountered a fascinating sight that we certainly don't recall seeing in Venice! Along one of the back alley canals, Davy remarked that the gondolas “parked” by the sides of the houses appeared to be made of concrete! Poppy at first guffawed, but then upon closer inspection we realized that the young bean was quite right! The villagers indeed seemed to use gondolas that must have been made of a very thin layer of concrete - perhaps wood is rather expensive in this part of the world?Read more