Ancient town seeks top grade tourism designation
Zhujiajiao Ancient Town scenery
Xunmeng Garden at Zhujiajiao Town
Zhujiajiao Ancient Town's tourism market will be injected with new energy as efforts are underway to turn the water town into a 5A-level national tourist attraction, the top grade for tourist destinations in China, the town's authorities revealed.
New tourist programs are being developed and new attractions popular among young people will be created in the ancient town in Qingpu District, Yu Wenli, a member of the CPC Zhujiajiao Town Committee, told a recent press conference.
"In addition to traditional tourist programs such as guided tours and boating trips, new scenes and forms of enjoyment such as augmented reality and jubensha will be introduced, as they are favored by the young generation," said Yu.
Live-action role-playing games, called jubensha in Chinese, have become something of a craze among Chinese young people.
Linjia Village at Zhujiajiao Town
The bridge is the soul of Zhujiajiao.
The tourism market of the ancient town has extended, forming a tourism circle that includes the Zhangma Village scenic area, Xunmeng Garden, Linjia Village, the Sun Island Resorts and Daqian Garden, the town government said.
Residents and tourists are invited to enrich their tourist experience at these spots and try tea-sipping and even making paintings in paddy fields, said Yu.
The Zhujiajiao watertown scenic area, now a 4A national tourist attraction, has applied for 5A designation with evaluation already underway.
Upgrades have been conducted and the layout of nine ancient streets in the town has been improved.
Zhujiajiao watertown
Construction of a signage system covering 3.08 square kilometers has been finished, and 15 public toilets in the town have been expanded or upgraded. The lighting system has been upgraded as well.
Facelift projects have been conducted in central areas to incorporate the cultural essence into the business environment and ancient architecture.
Zhujiajiao, with a history of over 1,700 years and crowned the "pearl of Jiangnan," has 36 stone bridges and ancient architecture covering about 210,000 square meters.
Meanwhile, ecological landscape projects at Dianshan Lake and Dianpu River located in Zhujiajiao Town aim toward the goal of a world-class famous lake district.
More community-based parks will be built in the town and construction of the Shenxiang Sports Park has begun, according to the town government.
