Old streets, old villages, and old water towns are actually pretty common in my part of China -- regionally speaking, that would be Jiangsu south of the Yangtze, Shanghai, and northern Zhejiang. Then, you have to delineate between two basic types. What is legit, and then what has been bulldozed to look "historic." These pictures come from 嘉泽镇, which is in Changzhou's Wujin district, over by Xitaihu. So, the question that can be asked here is is this legit old, or is this something bulldozed and rebuilt as a tourist attraction?
Rebuilt tourist attractions don't have ancestral halls with city-sanctioned historic markers that also have holes in the roof.
They also have shops that are intended for tourists. But the truth is, tourists really don't come to places like this.
Purported cultural centers are never actually open. I have walked this street several times over the last eight years. This is never open.
And then we arrive at the end.
What comes at the end of this is very small pagoda and temple to the Taoist god of flowers. Most times I have tried to visit, it's been closed or sectioned of for a personal family ritual.
