Tongli - The Water Village

Tongli is a twee fishing village on the Tai Lake criss-crossed by cutesy canals lined with characteristic houses and crossed by picturesque bridges. In fact, the whole setting so photogenic that it could have very well been set up on purpose as a tourist bait but in fact the village is authentic. Once a fishermen's settlement, nowadays it derives most of its income - surprise surprise - from tourism as well as serving the daily catch in the numerous canal-side restaurants. Its status, deservedly so, is so close to an open-air museum that you cannot even enter without a ticket, that fortunately includes entrance to all the museums - except for the intriguingly named Chinese Sexual History Museum.

As seems the order of the day in all canal cities, take Venice or Amsterdam, the food turned out universally bland and overpriced but Tongli is nevertheless a very pleasant and laid back place, well worth at least an overnight stay . Most tourists seem to come on a day tour, so you will be spoilt for choice of available accommodation. The best bet then would be the museum-come-hotel furnished with authentic period furniture and overlooking a charming garden with carp-filled ponds.

Surprisingly affordable, it is adjacent to the Wooden Carving Museum brimming with truly astonishing carvings featuring famous Chinese tales and historical episodes, many with very handy English explanations that allow you to appreciate just how rich, diverse and much more ancient than anything you have encountered Chinese civilisation is. Another star attraction in the museum are hand-made Ming canopied beds assembled from thousands of separate pieces of redwood and mother of pearl in a mind-boggling feat of craftsmanship.

Another worthy tourist stop is the Dendrite Museum, where fanciful dendrite cuts are arranged according to the themes - Seasons, Poetry, Life, Natural Disasters, etc. They were collected over many decades by a couple of aesthetically inclined railway construction engineers and finally donated to the nation to establish this museum. Many of the captions are beautiful quotes from ancient Chinese poetry that greatly augment the overall experience, provided your mastery of Chinese has reached a certain level.

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Tunxi - The Breezy Gateway to Huangshan >>>