Wuzhen in 2018 | A Jiangnan Dream Frozen in Time

📍 Location: Tongxiang, Jiaxing, Zhejiang, a thousand-year-old water town by the Grand Canal. 📸 The beauty of 2018: Slowly rowing through blue-stone alleys, white walls and black tiles reflected in the twilight. In the nine-grid photo on your WeChat Moments, there's the blue calico of Xizha swaying in the wind, the minimalist light and shadow of the Muxin Art Museum, and the handwritten postcards sent from the old post office... Wuzhen in that year had not yet been disturbed by excessive noise. The wisteria in early spring and the remaining lotus leaves in late autumn all carried a poetic simplicity. 🌟 Highlights ✅ Xizha Night Tour: Winding, lit-up waterside corridors and bridges, open-air movies, and a tipsy night at Huang Lei's "Time Flows Like Water" bar. ✅ Dongzha Morning Mist: At 6:00 am, the deserted Fengyuan Double Bridge, watch the smoke rise from century-old houses, and perhaps encounter an elderly tie-dye artist at the blue cloth workshop. ✅ Muxin Art Museum: A glass maze on the water houses his "Slow Down" manuscripts, creating a minimalist aesthetic perfect for photos. 🍜 Culinary Memories Scholar's mutton noodles (priced at 60 yuan/bowl in 2018!), Dingsheng cake, and Gusao cake. Stinky tofu with sweet sauce from a small stall by the bridge still embodies the most authentic local flavor of the water town. 📌 Tips from Back Then ▪️ Xizha entrance ticket: 120 yuan, night cruise: 60 yuan/person, shared boats require waiting. ▪️ Staying in a guesthouse inside the scenic area allows you to enjoy the VIP-style tranquility of the early morning (waterfront rooms 800+ yuan/night). ▪️ Avoid weekends. Wuzhen after the rain is the true ink-wash Jiangnan. ✨ You said back then: "Wuzhen's slow pace allows time to steep in a pot of Hangbai chrysanthemum tea." Memories from WeChat Moments in 2018 have now become the key 🔑 to restarting the water town dream.