Shaoxing's old town is small, about 9.09 square kilometres, and water runs through most of it. The Shanyin Old Waterway that crosses it is a core section of the Eastern Zhejiang Canal.F1
This story asks one question: how did water shape the way people here made a living, and where can you still see it today?
Streets that let the boats through
Bazi Bridge was first built between 1201 and 1204 and rebuilt in 1256. It joins three roads above the water, and the grooves that boat ropes wore into its stones are still there.F2
The bridge was built for two kinds of traffic at once: people crossing on top, cargo passing underneath.
Ink by the water
In 353 CE the calligrapher Wang Xizhi hosted a gathering at Lanting, in Shaoxing. The preface he wrote for its poems is still called the finest work of running script.F3
The lane now called Shusheng Guli, the Sage of Calligraphy's home quarter, keeps his name in daily use.
Wine that needs a lake
Water from Jianhu Lake is part of Shaoxing's rice-wine craft as China lists it in its national heritage register. The brewing season runs from about early December to early February.F4
The lake hasn't always cooperated. During its polluted years one brewery switched to tap water for the sake of its wine, then returned to the lake after the clean-up.F4 That is the kind of working detail the finished story needs a brewer to explain in their own words.
Anchang, a market on a river
West of the city, in Keqiao, Anchang has traded since the Ming and Qing dynasties. Its main street runs 1,747 metres along a river crossed by 17 old bridges, and its shops sell cured sausage and sauced duck.F5
It's the last stop of our journey and the hardest one to get back from. That's why the journey page marks its return trip as Needs evidence.
What we don't know yet
We haven't spoken to a brewer or a shopkeeper ourselves. Any interview quoted here will name the original outlet and interviewer. We haven't timed the trip back from Anchang. Until we have, the journey stays a research plan.