Zhejiang's Hidden Gem: The Millennium-Old PaoTang Ancient Town

🚗 It takes over four hours to drive from Shanghai to Taizhou, and the first stop we visited is PaoTang Ancient Town, known as the first ancient street in Zhejiang. 🧩 PaoTang Ancient Town is one of the most completely preserved ancient cultural sites in Zhejiang. The local ancient architectural complex is authentic and of great historical, cultural, and scientific artistic value, like a living miracle. 🧩 Walking on the goose-soft stone paths of the ancient town, the view is very serene and desolate. There are no residents or shops in the town, with only a few elderly people squatting under the eaves by the road, selling local specialties like bamboo shoots. 🧩 The ancient town is not large, with the main street shaped like a dragon and 2 kilometers long. We walked from the dragon's head to the tail without having to retrace our steps, taking photos and checking in along the way. We saw brothels, ancient stages, gambling houses, banks, ancestral halls, and many other historical sites, stopping and going, spending more than an hour. 🧩 The architectural style of the ancient town is diverse and well-arranged. You can admire various exquisite wood carvings, brick carvings, and stone carvings that are very much of their time. 🧩 The ancient town's needle-pricked boneless lantern exhibition is very interesting, a millennium-old unique skill of the town. During the Ming and Qing dynasties, the needle-pricked boneless lantern was extremely popular. People at that time regarded it as a treasure, revered it as a deity, and even carved lanterns on the beams and columns of houses for good luck. 🧩 In ancient times, PaoTang was an important salt transfer port, and the town preserves more than 260 old shops, witnessing the history of PaoTang. 🧩 PaoTang Ancient Town has a profound sense of history. When visiting Taizhou, one must see this unique place that has been forged over a thousand years, harmonious in its essence, and rich in natural treasures. 🌿 Name: PaoTang Ancient Town 📍 Address: Shangjie Village, Xianju County, Taizhou City, Zhejiang Province 🚇 Transportation: 768m from PanTang Bus Station, about a 9-minute walk 🅿️ Parking: Free parking along the outer road 🎫 Ticket: Free