Nanxun Ancient Town is located in the north of Zhejiang Province and to the southwest of Shanghai. Many of the Coach Passenger Stations have buses from Shanghai to Nanxun, such as the one on Qiujiang Road (No. 865 Qiujiang Road, Zhabei Area) and the one on Zhongxing Road (No. 1666 Zhongxin Road). The bus ticket is about CNY45.00 and the journey takes about 2 hours.

Ancient water town

Upon arrival, you need to buy the entrance fee before go into the town. The combined ticket of the Nanxun Ancient Town is CNY100.00 which includes the Little Lotus Garden, the Jiaye Book-Collecting Hall, the Liushi Tihao (Red House), the former residences of Zhang Shiming and Zhang Jingjiang in Qing Dynasty. To commence the visit, you can either walk along the ancient paths or take a boat on the canal. The attraction and beauty of this old water town can be experienced by both ways.

Nanxun Ancient Town was founded in Southern Song Dynasty and is over 700 years old now. The town is a small one and its scenery area only covers 1.68 square kilometers, but it is its cultural atmosphere and less commercialization that make it special and lovable.

Although withstanding several centuries of wars and turbulences, the constructions and buildings in Nanxun Ancient Town are amazingly well-preserved. Stretching along the ancient canal which divides the town into two parts, they still function as residences for the local people.

Besides the old houses, corridors, stone bridges and deep lanes like other ancient towns around, Nanxun Ancient Town are famous due to the elegant and exquisite gardens. Most of these gardens are a combination of Chinese and Western styles. The most well-known gardens among them are the Small Lotus Garden and the Jiaye Book-Collecting Hall, both of which were built in 1920s.

Local people washing the clothes

The Small Lotus Garden was the private garden and the family temple of Liu Yong, a high rank official in the late Qing Dynasty. The garden covers a land of 17,399 square meters and is divided into two parts, inner yard and outer yard. The center of the inner yard is a group of rockery which was made by the stones from Taihu Lake. And the lotus pond which is 5267 square kilometers is the theme of the outer yard. Also, the name of the garden was taken from it and Liu Yong's admiration to the Lotus Villa built by artist "Zhaomeng Zhaoye".

The Jiaye Book-Collecting Hall is next to the Small Lotus Garden and itself is actually a mini-sized garden. The lotus pond, rockery and pavilion in the garden show the delicacy and cuteness of gardens in the southern Yangtze River area. There are over 600,000 volumes of books collected here. Nowadays, it is not only a scenic spot, but also a public library.

Enjoying revered abundant cultural and natural resources, Nanxun is known as the birthplace of many talented historical people. During the Song, Ming and Qing dynasties, more than 40 successful candidates in the highest imperial examinations came from Nanxun.

The Nanxun Ancient Town is not only beautiful outside, but also intelligent inside with profound cultural connotation.