Boats on placid waters [Photo by Bruce Connolly/chinadaily.com.cn]

At one point along the alley a hair salon provided ”antique” chairs for patrons to sit on while being served. Every moment I walked, there were reasons to stop, admire and take more photographic images, even of the street lamps, stone-carved gates and intricately decorated wooden windows.

Many local restaurants opened out onto the lanes, allowing unobscured views of various food preparations. The atmospherics were enhanced by the large, circular bamboo containers for steaming dumplings.

Wuzhen has many charms, and stands as a fine example of historic conservation and heritage preservation. If I returned, I would spend many hours sitting beside the waterways, camera in hand, looking for shots which could be translated into paintings and drawings of scenes representing historic periods of classical water towns, so special to the southern lands of the Yangtze River.