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The Handbook — $19
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Zhejiang · 乌镇

Wuzhen

Stone bridges and waterside houses line a network of canals.

A canal with a stone bridge and illuminated historic houses in Wuzhen.
WuzhenWarm timber façades reflect in the canal in Wuzhen’s Xizha quarter.

The old canal lanes, waterside buildings and the bridges over the canals.

Wuzhen through the year

March–May

Spring

Xiuzhen Temple stage, Dongzha

Cross the square in front of Xiuzhen Temple and look up at the stage’s carved beams and curled eaves.

The carved stage at Xiuzhen Temple with upturned roof corners and a leafy tree to the left.
Xiuzhen Temple stage, DongzhaThe eaves of the Xiuzhen Temple stage rise above the stone square in Dongzha.

June–August

Summer

Cormorant boat, Xizha

Look down from a bridge in Xizha to see how low wooden boats sit against the stone canal walls.

A straw-hatted boatman bends over an oar as cormorants perch along a wooden boat in Xizha.
Cormorant boat, XizhaA boatman tends an oar while cormorants perch on a wooden boat below a stone bridge in Xizha.

September–November

Autumn

Wuzhen rooftops at dawn

Walk beside the water in early light, when the tiled roofs and autumn trees catch the sun at different heights.

An aerial view of Wuzhen’s canal, tiled rooftops and amber trees, with a pagoda on the horizon.
Wuzhen rooftops at dawnEarly light catches tiled roofs and amber trees above a canal in Wuzhen.

December–February

Winter

Wuzhen’s old waterways

Pause on a bridge and watch how the low winter sun casts the trees’ shadows across the water.

A top-down view of a lone covered boat, a diagonal bridge and tree shadows across green canal water.
Wuzhen’s old waterwaysA covered boat passes long tree shadows beneath the roofs and bridge of Wuzhen’s old waterways in December.