These ‘Ancient Towns’ are indeed little more than tourist traps. There’s little authenticity beyond the fancy gates and bridges that adorn them, and the locals and the people who live in the city probably knows this too.

I was in 朱家角 myself two years ago during my summer in Shanghai. The entire place was pretty much a shopping district selling cheap replicas of traditional Chinese goodies. The only traditional feel was from the locals selling home grown home made food, but it was mostly pseduo traditional Chinese fans and dresses for sell.

I also had the pleasure in boarding one of those little boats that circulated the polluted waterway, which also had a dead cat floating taking a dip when I was there.

The closer the towns and villages are to the big cities, the less traditional they become, and thankfully I went to the country side in places like 江西. It was a refreshing sight to see the local villages and towns where the people had farms right beside their houses and the children playing in the streams.

These places actually had an authentic sense of community rather than an atmosphere of commercial business district found in the Ancient Towns.

It’s unfortunate that so many people go to such sites with expectations instead of those further down in the countryside, but perhaps it’s a blessing that such level of tourism is absent in those areas.