Wuzhen Water Town乌镇

Wuzhen sits in Tongxiang, Zhejiang, straddling the Grand Canal, and counts as one of Jiangnan's six great water towns (alongside Zhouzhuang, Tongli, Luzhi, Xitang and Nanxun). The scenic area splits into two zones: Dongzha, opened in 2001, keeps its lived-in daily rhythm and morning-market bustle, and is home to the former residence of novelist Mao Dun (born Shen Yanbing); Xizha, opened in 2007, is larger and more resort-like, its canals lined with covered walkways and canal-side guesthouses built for an overnight stay — plenty of visitors book one purely to wait out the evening lights. Wuzhen carries a second identity too: since 2014 it has been the permanent host of the World Internet Conference, turning this Jiangnan town into a global tech-world focal point every autumn. Few water towns pair an ancient-canal identity with a digital-economy one quite like this.

Culture

Dongzha and Xizha, two different rhythms

• Dongzha opens at 7am and carries the strongest morning-market energy — residents still live along its canals
• Mao Dun's former residence sits in Dongzha; the author of Midnight was born here
• Xizha is larger and stays lively until 9-10pm, with its evening light show as the signature experience
• Fengyuan Twin Bridges are a Xizha landmark — local lore says crossing both brings good fortune from every direction

Digital Wuzhen

Permanent home of the World Internet Conference

• Since 2014, the World Internet Conference's Wuzhen Summit has convened here every autumn at the Wuzhen Internet International Convention Center — the 2026 edition is slated for autumn, with exact dates pending official confirmation
• Security and crowd control tighten noticeably during summit days; outside that window it's an ordinary water-town pace
• Wuzhen Grand Theatre, the main venue for the Wuzhen Theatre Festival, is a striking building designed by architect Kris Yao that appears to float on the water
• This water-town-meets-tech-summit combination is unique among Jiangnan's ancient towns

Everyday Life

Some of the country's most polished guesthouse hospitality

• Xizha's canal-side resorts and boutique guesthouses set the benchmark for old-town hospitality nationwide — and price accordingly higher than an ordinary water town
• Wuzhen has no train station or airport of its own, and long-stay infrastructure like coworking or a nomad community is essentially absent — this runs on tourism and convention economics
• Tongxiang city's registered population is about 1.063 million (end of 2024) — Wuzhen itself is just one town within that, far smaller in scale than the county seat
• Blue calico dyeing workshops and bamboo-pole boat acrobatics run as everyday performances in Xizha, not just festival specials