Shanghai Dragon Boat Festival Must-Go: A One-Day Tour Guide to the Thousand-Year-Old Fengjing Ancient Town

Once a year, the Dragon Boat Festival is here! An indispensable part of the festival is the zongzi! I personally really like the big meat zongzi from Fengjing! Taking advantage of the holiday, I highly recommend visiting the Jiangnan water town 'Fengjing Ancient Town.' This cultural town, with a history of over 1500 years, is worth a stroll! Fengjing Town was established as a market in the Song Dynasty and built as a town in the Yuan Dynasty, straddling the Wu and Yue regions, hence it has long been known as the 'Ancient Town of Wu Yue.' Moreover, the town is crisscrossed with waterways and numerous bridges, earning it the nickname 'Ten Lanes at a Glance.' Upon entering the ancient town, you can see the tall, four-pillar, three-bay style imitation ancient stone archway. The town name 'Fengjing' on the archway is the calligraphy of Mr. Cheng Shifa, a famous national painter and local celebrity from Fengjing. 📷 Photo Spots: ❶ The highest arch bridge, Taiping Bridge: The 'Taiping Bridge,' built in the late Ming Dynasty, is a single-hole stone arch bridge and the highest arch bridge in the town, running north-south and connecting the riverside corridor. ❷ Ancient Corridor: A typical Jiangnan water town structure, with a total length of 268 meters, it is one of the longest existing corridors in Jiangnan. ❸ Riverside Ancient Stage: The ancient stage has a hip-and-gable roof, with upturned eaves and a vibrant atmosphere, facing the street on one side and the river on the other. ❹ Exhibition Halls: The scenic area includes Ding Cong Cartoon Gallery, Lü Jiren Painting Gallery, Three Hundred Garden, Ding Hoof Workshop, and other attractions for visitors. 🍛 Food: ✔️ The riverside corridor area is the town's snack street, where almost all restaurants, pastry shops, snack bars, and farmhouse restaurants are concentrated. Square tables, long benches, and blue-rimmed bowls are the main features here. ✔ Fengjing's 'Four Treasures' - Ding Hoof, Yellow Wine, Dried Tofu, and Scholar's Cake - are a must-try, in addition to big zongzi, shaomai, plum blossom cakes, and soup dumplings. You can see aunties wrapping zongzi on the spot in the zongzi shops, which adds a touch of human warmth, and most importantly, they taste really authentic. In the evening, be sure to choose a farmhouse dish along the riverside corridor, where you can enjoy delicious food while watching the river scenery and listening to the elegant mountain songs of the boatmen. What a pleasant experience... 💯 For the Dragon Boat Festival holiday, there's no need to leave Shanghai. It's a great destination for a family outing or taking the kids for a walk! Touring the thousand-year-old ancient town and tasting authentic local food, of course, you must not miss buying big meat zongzi! 📍 Location: Fengjing Ancient Town, Lane 8588, Tingfeng Highway, Jinshan District, Shanghai 🎫 Ticket: Free 🚌 Transportation: Self-driving is recommended 👀 One-Day Tour Guide: ① First stop: Donglin Temple, an incredibly impressive and magnificent temple. ② Second stop: Sea of Flowers Ecological Park, a large park with few people and a wide variety of flowers, perfect for photography. ③ Third stop: Fengjing Ancient Town, touring the ancient town with big meat zongzi, and enjoying a relaxing evening meal by the river at a farmhouse restaurant.