Ancienne bourgade d'Anchang

Anchang Ancient Town is a 4A-rated water town in the northwest of Shaoxing's Keqiao district, preserved as one of the most atmospheric of the historic market towns that once dotted the Jiangnan canal network. Recognized as a China Historical and Cultural Town and a provincial intangible cultural heritage site, Anchang has been continuously inhabited for more than a thousand years and retains much of its Ming and Qing dynasty streetscape along both banks of the Anchang River.

The town's defining visual character comes from its black-awned traditional shopfronts, stone-arched bridges, and the long covered corridors that run along the riverbanks. The corridors, which provided shelter for trade and transport in all weather, now form a continuous covered walkway linking the principal halls, guild buildings, pawnshops, and residences that have been restored along the main stretch of the canal. Local craft workshops, soy-sauce breweries, and family-run noodle and pastry stalls occupy many of the historic frontages, and the smells of curing meat, fermented rice wine, and roasted soybeans are an essential part of the sensory experience of a visit.

Anchang is particularly known for its annual lunar New Year Shaoxing opera festival and for the local tradition of "shiye," the private secretaries and legal advisors who served officials across late-imperial China and who were disproportionately drawn from this small town. The Shiye Museum, the Anchang Folk Customs Museum, and several restored guild halls interpret the social and economic history of the town, including its role as a center of education and professional training for the imperial bureaucracy.

For international visitors, Anchang offers a quieter and more authentic water-town experience than the heavily restored tourist centers elsewhere in the Yangtze Delta. The town is a short distance from central Shaoxing and can be visited as a relaxed half-day or full-day trip, with most of the principal attractions within easy walking distance of each other along the river. Travelers particularly interested in regional food should plan a visit during the cool months, when the town's famous cured sausages and soy-braised ducks are hung to dry along the corridor fronts.