Ansicht eines Holz- Fenster mit geschnitzten Muster in einem alten Haus in Wuzhen Stadt Friedrichshafen Stadt, der ostchinesischen Provinz Zhejiang, 10. April 2015. Auf
View of a wooden window with carved patterns in an ancient house in Wuzhen town, Tongxiang city, east China's Zhejiang province, 10 April 2015. On both sides of slabstone-paved street stand pubs, restaurants, pawnshops, weaving and dyeing establishments, and other businesses, all housed in wooden structures of brown. Rivers and creeks spanned with stone bridges in various designs flow through the town, and the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal passes by. Old waterside houses and outside corridors can be found here and there. This is the ancient town of Wuzhen. Wuzhen Town, in Tongxiang City, Zhejiang Province, has a history of more than 1, 000 years. Of the ancient residential houses, workshops, and stores still standing on the banks of the rivers, 169, 600 square meters, accounting for 81.54 percent of the town's total floor area, have remained unchanged, lending an atmosphere of antiquity. Tradition is still very much alive in Wuzhen. In addition to flower-drum opera, shadow-puppet shows, and temple fairs, Wuzhen also attracts visitors with its time-honored art of making indigo-dyed printed calico. In ancient times, indigo-dyed printed calico was used for curtains, scarves, and tablecloths in every household in the countryside of Zhejiang Province. Today, it is still common to see old women in indigo-blue gowns leisurely operating spinning wheels or looms at weaving workshops in the old lanes of Wuzhen, while the squeaks of the looms resound throughout the lanes. Carrying on this tradition has become a part of the lives of the old women.
