[2024 Shengzhou Attraction] Travel Guide for Chongren Ancient Town (Updated Sep)
Ancient Towns
Address:
Chongren Town, Cangzhou City, Shaoxing City
Recommended sightseeing time:
4-6 hours
I got lost in Chongren Ancient Town.
🌟Rating: AAA
💰Admission: Free
❤Recommended: 4/5
👨🏻Popularity: 2/5
🕙Recommended duration: 1-2 hours
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This ancient town is hidden in the mountains of Shengzhou. It was established during the Song Dynasty and flourished during the Ming and Qing Dynasties. It has a history of over 1,000 years.
Unlike the ancient towns in Jiangnan that were built along rivers, this ancient town is not located near a river. It is a village in the mountains. The ancient town is not crowded with tourists, so it is quiet and peaceful.
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✅Main attractions:
①Houmentang. It is located in the center of the ancient town. The pond is full of lotus flowers🪷. The lotus flowers have withered, leaving only the lotus roots standing tall.
②Yushan Ancestral Hall. The ancestral hall is solemn and elegant. The exquisite wood carvings, stone carvings, and brick carvings all showcase the superb skills of the ancients.
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📝Tips:
While enjoying the beautiful scenery of the ancient town, I got lost. The narrow streets and lanes crisscross each other. There are not many straight roads or signs, which can be confusing. Fortunately, with the help of modern technology, I finally found my way out of the ancient town with the help of navigation.
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🚉Transportation:
Public transportation is not frequent. It is recommended to drive or take a taxi. It takes about 30 minutes and costs CNY 40 to take a taxi from Kaiyuan Mingdu Hotel in Shengzhou.
IneffableEtherealWhimsy
Chongren Ancient Town｜A Seriously Underrated Jiangnan Ancient Town, and It's Free
Hey buddies, today I want to recommend a super treasure place—Chongren Ancient Town. It is the low-key king among the four famous towns in Shaoxing🌟, and the best part is it's completely free, even the parking is free!😍 Walking into this place feels like traveling back to the poetic and picturesque Tang and Song dynasties, it's simply the biggest welfare gift package for tourists!🎁🎉
🏯 Chongren Ancient Town, a place gently treated by time, was built in the Tang Dynasty and flourished in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. Walking here, you will find that those ancient buildings seem to whisper🗣️, telling stories of a thousand years. Moreover, this is not a cold and lifeless scenic spot; the original residents are still living leisurely here, and that sense of daily life🔥 instantly makes you feel the warmth of home.🏡💖
🤔 I am puzzled, why are those places that charge fees always crowded like the Spring Festival travel rush🚄👥, while such a treasure place like Chongren Ancient Town remains hidden and unknown? Maybe it's because it is too low-key and understands the principle of 'good wine needs no bush'!😉
👣 Speaking of the route, I have carefully planned it: starting from Yushan Public Ancestral Hall, every step is a scenery🖼️. The solemnity of Da Fu Di Tai Men, the tranquility of Hou Men Tang🌊, the historical sediment of Yi Men Qiu Family Ancestral Hall, the ancient charm of Shen Family Tai Men... and the solemnity of Wei Zhen Temple, the sparkling waves of Taiping Ling Tang🌅, every place makes people linger.👣💕
Moreover, the architectural style of Chongren Ancient Town is unique. Although it is located in Shengzhou, Shaoxing, it cleverly integrates the elegance and restraint of Huizhou architecture. Those wood carvings and stone carvings🖌️ are simply at the level of artworks!🖼️ However, I heard that the ancient town will have a new look this year, it may undergo renovation, and the residents will also move out. I sincerely hope it can retain its original flavor while allowing more people to discover its beauty.🙏✨
So, before it becomes fully commercialized, hurry up and take a spontaneous trip! Chongren Ancient Town is waiting for you to explore, to feel the tranquility and beauty gently treated by time.🎒🚗💨
wren_3748
Exploring Chongren Ancient Town｜A Hidden Paradise Away from Commercial Clamor
⛩Coordinates: Chongren Ancient Town, quietly nestled about 11 kilometers northwest of Shengzhou city center, reachable by a short drive from Shengzhou High-Speed Railway Station.
✨A Hidden Gem with Timeless Charm
🔍Within the ancient town, over a hundred well-preserved old houses and ancestral halls, temples, theaters, residences, archways, shops, stone bridges, clear ponds, and ancient wells are scattered, showcasing a rustic charm.
🔍As a national key cultural relic protection unit, Chongren Ancient Town has maintained its precious original appearance with little commercial disturbance, making it a tranquil and niche retreat.
✨Exquisite Three Carvings, Masterful Craftsmanship
🔍Wandering through the alleys of the ancient town, the exquisite craftsmanship of brick carvings, wood carvings, and stone carvings is breathtaking. The Bailu Taimen is particularly notable, with its beams carved with ninety-nine vividly different deer. The wood and brick carvings of Yushan Ancestral Hall are also rare artistic treasures.
🔍Inside the Weizhen Temple, there is a beautifully crafted stage, reputed to be the finest in Zhejiang, where many famous Yue Opera performers once graced the stage, leaving countless stories.
✨Family Clusters, Long-lasting Cultural Heritage
🔍The architecture of the ancient town mainly consists of enclosed courtyards, with Taimen connected by over-street buildings, reflecting the traditional style of "separate but not isolated, living in family clusters."
🔍The Qiu descendants living here have been talented for generations. From the Song to the Qing dynasties, many officials emerged, including four Jinshi (successful candidates in the highest imperial examinations) and thirty-seven Juren (successful candidates in the provincial examinations), with over four hundred Xiucai (successful candidates in the county-level examinations), showcasing a rich cultural heritage.
✨A Model Ancient Village, Witness to History
🔍From the late Qing Dynasty to the Republic of China, Chongren Ancient Town was an economic hub in eastern Zhejiang, with thriving silk, tea, and cloth factories, and numerous wealthy businesses, earning it the nickname "Little Shanghai of Eastern Zhejiang."
🔍At that time, the ancient town had courts, police stations, and even local armed forces, forming a relatively independent governance system, vividly illustrating the changes in township governance structures during the late Qing and Republic periods, making it a "living fossil."
📸Must-Visit Places: Weizhen Temple, Yushan Ancestral Hall, Wenyuan Taimen, Dangdian Taimen, Houmen Pond, Jingcheng Study, Dafu Taimen, Laowu Taimen, each bearing rich history and culture.
🍽️Food Recommendations: Be sure to try the local specialties such as rice cake dumplings, tofu buns, Shengzhou small steamed buns, chicken soup, and stewed duck, allowing your taste buds to indulge in the ancient and charming town's flavors.
Molly Dainty Whiskers
Recommended summer retreat town: Chongren Ancient Town of Shengzhou
When we enter the uncommercialized Chongren Ancient Town in the evening, with its grey tiles and white walls, heavy eaves and stacked ridges, this is the image of the ancient Jiangnan town hidden in the city that I have in my heart.
►Check-in Route
Parking lot → Christian Church → Bailu Tai Gate → Houmen Pond → Wulian Tai Gate → Yushan Public Hall
►Authentic Ancient Town
▪ The residents of Chongren Ancient Town are mainly descendants of the Qiu family, who were ennobled by Emperor Shenzong of Song. The town preserves ancient houses from the Ming and Qing dynasties, and even as early as the Song dynasty. Especially those well-preserved residential houses, ancestral halls, and other buildings, as well as tea pavilions, road pavilions, etc., all reflect the ancestral ethos of 'separate households, united clan, gathering as one family'.
▪ The ancient town has temples, ancestral halls, and ancient opera stages, all uniformly constructed with blue bricks and grey tiles, white walls with hard mountain tops, high walls and deep courtyards, with partitions, doors, and windows featuring fine carvings, exquisite craftsmanship, indescribably wonderful.
▪ Houmen Pond is the central square of the entire ancient town, and it is even more beautiful when there are lotus flowers in summer.
▪ Chongren Ancient Town is one of the birthplaces of Go and Shaoxing opera, producing many famous personalities, such as the 'Five Tigers of Go', and one of the founders of Shaoxing opera, Ma Chaoshui, etc.
►Gourmet Experience
Chongren Ancient Town has Chen's Braised Duck, which has a history of 150 years to date, and the splendid history of Xiqing tofu skin, which has been around for more than 300 years, are both worth a try.
►Recommended visit: 2 hours - half a day
►Transportation: Self-driving, navigate to Chongren Ancient Town
Evelyn.Perry@73
2024 Plum Blossom Latest! Six thousand acres of white plum blossoms will bloom during the Spring Festival!!!
From mid-February to early March in 2024|1 day hiking|Round trip from Shanghai|
●Just not far from Shanghai, in Shaoxing
There is a thousand-acre plum garden hidden
Every February, the plum blossoms here bloom
This year happens to be the Dragon Year Spring Festival
Setting off the entire mountain top as if covered with pink snow
This is the plum appreciation reserve of Shaoxing people
"Wangtan East Village
Since the last century, the villagers of Dongcun have started to plant plum blossoms in the village. So far, Dongcun has more than 6,000 acres of green plums. Every spring when the plum blossoms are in full bloom, the villagers of Dongcun "appreciate the plum blossoms and brew plum wine", leisurely and contented, showing a pastoral scenery.
The ancient town of a thousand years, the misty and rainy Jiangnan, was once called "Apricot Flower Village", and was later settled here by the Qiu family of Songyi Gate. Because of advocating benevolence, it is named "Chongren".
Chongren does not have crowded tourists, but many are Ming and Qing buildings of Sanheyuan and Siheyuan. Its ridge, eaves, and horse head walls are all decorated with brick carvings. Over the millennia, it is majestic and elegant. There is also very delicious Chongren stewed duck!
No. 132 exclusive design, Wangtan East Village to appreciate plum blossoms + Chongren Ancient Town
√No. 32 has multiple hiking experiences in Wangtan East Village, and has organized excellent plum appreciation routes, and has completed the entire plum appreciation loop.
√Ancient town tour + flower appreciation, double leisure elements, one natural and one cultural, travel experience MAX.
√No. 32 contemplates more possibilities in travel, discovers more partners in travel, and more interesting world
Hiking mileage: 7 kilometers, entry-level difficulty
Activity time: mid-February to early March
Meeting place: Yishan Road/Shanghai Songjiang New Town
Itinerary arrangement密
Shanghai-Chongren Ancient Town-Wangtan East Village-Shanghai
Enrico Dicki
Roaming Zhejiang| Chongren Ancient Town, the gradually disappearing old stage door
|Chongren Ancient Town, the gradually disappearing old stage door.. Transportation:
High-speed rail: Hangzhou-Shengzhou Xinchang, 45 minutes
Bus: Take the bus from the entrance of Shengzhou Xinchang Station to Shengzhou West Station, and then transfer to the bus to Chongren Ancient Town
Highlights:
1 The first ancient stage in Zhejiang
Located at the entrance of the town, the temple roof in Weizhen Temple is very gorgeous
2 Old stage doors
Scattered around the town, unfortunately, most of them are private houses and cannot be visited
3 Rice cake dumplings
Turn right out of North Street, and you can see it. Search for 'Chongren Special Rice Cake Dumplings' on Gaode, it's very delicious
4 Roasted buns
On North Street, the shop is called 'Jianping Roasted Buns', the filling is tofu, and the pot is very strong
korvina_9710
Shengzhou, an ancient town with no trace of commercialism| Chongren Ancient Town
Chongren Ancient Town. A low-key thousand-year-old ancient town, without commercialization, not many people, walking around and taking pictures here has a unique flavor.
The wood carvings, stone carvings and brick carvings here are very exquisite. In addition to this, there are stages, public temples, gates, ancient wells and many ancient buildings in the ancient town.
It is recommended to wear plain colored clothes or Chinese-style clothes such as cheongsams for photos here!
🚗Navigation: Chongren Ancient Town
🅿️Parking: There is a free parking lot
🎫Tickets: Free
Food recommendations:
1. Rice cake dumplings: It can be said to be the business card of the ancient town, and it is also very characteristic.
2. Jianping roasted buns: A specially marked shop. There are a lot of people, the shop is full of neighbors, and there are many people waiting outside for the pot. Sisters who are patient and like food can try it!
3. Yuanfeng fast food: An ordinary small shop, but their fried stinky tofu buns and radish shreds are particularly delicious, and they are very cheap, only one yuan each.
WanderingWhimsies
Shengzhou, the hometown of Yue Opera
🔸 Xiaokun Village on the top of the mountain to watch the stars 🎑
The little Kun village with a history of over 800 years that has become popular
Hidden in the depths of Xibaishan, a paradise on earth, also known as 'Western Seda'
Walk up for about 2H, you can reach the top of Xibaishan
Xibaishan, also known as Shaobaijian, with an altitude of 1095.7 meters
You can overlook the whole view of Xiaokun Village
The red bricks on the roof under the sunlight
Look just like Seda
PS: Mountain road
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🔸Chongren Ancient Town without too much commercial atmosphere
The ancient town is open for free, without too much commercial atmosphere
Preserving the original Ming and Qing buildings, the closed courtyard or quadrangle is suitable for a leisurely stroll
If you're lucky, you might even come across a Yue Opera performance
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🔸Wubai Gang, Fragrant Fir Forest and Village above the Clouds🏞
Wubai Gang, known as 'Little Wugong Mountain of Shaoxing', stretches across nearly 500 peaks of the Kuaiji Mountain Range
The big pointed mountain in the middle, with continuous peaks, in the depths of more than 600 meters above sea level, there are occasional villages along the ancient road
PS: Single lane, the road is quite narrow
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🔸Baizhang Waterfall Scenic Area
'Flying straight down three thousand feet, it seems like the Milky Way falls from the sky'
Nine waterfalls fly out of the Baizhang canyon, with a magnificent momentum, spectacular
It's the free season, from 1.1 to 6.30, the scenic area is free of charge
PS: The water flow is relatively small in winter
Roaming Appetites
The ancient town of Chongren, hidden in Shengzhou, Shaoxing, has been around for nearly a thousand years
Originally named Xinghua Village, it was established in the Tang Dynasty and flourished in the Ming and Qing Dynasties.
The ancient town mainly consists of over 150 terraced houses, about 10 temples and shrines, over 50 ancient wells and other ancient buildings and sites, covering a total area of 30 hectares.
The architecture of the ancient town is solemn and elegant, basically maintaining the style of the Ming and Qing Dynasties. The brick, wood, and stone carvings are exquisite, pleasing to the eye; the ancient streets and alleys are winding and varied, and it feels like entering a maze when you are in it; the ancient wells are long-standing, the spring water is sweet, and the legendary stories are fascinating.
In the late Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China, Chongren was still an economically developed ancient town in eastern Zhejiang. In the 1930s, there were more than a dozen silk factories, tea factories, and cloth factories with assets of over 100,000, known as the 'Little Shanghai of Zhejiang'.
Chongren is the main production area of Yixing purple clay crafts in Shengzhou. When you come to Chongren, don't forget to taste the famous Chen's stewed duck, and you can also buy some local specialty products such as Xitan pressed noodles, Xiqing tofu skin, Guiyan mist tip tea, etc.
Chongren Ancient Town
Fork in the Road
Ancient relics built 500 years ago
I recommend a really off-the-beaten-path ancient town in Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai. I really love these niche and fun travel destinations! There are absolutely no tourists on holidays!
!! Real. Off-the-beaten-path +!! Real. Ancient town, I've discovered it again~
Ancient relics built 500 years ago, the grandeur of history hits you in the face... 64 whole bluestone pillars, majestic and atmospheric five-room ancestral hall
Bizarre wood carvings, strange and flamboyant roof ridges, and ancient ink calligraphy scenes~
It's a real oriental charm that imitation ancient architecture can't match! It's absolutely amazing to take photos here!