Wuzhen and Theater Festival | An ancient town that wants to be a little different

I first came to the free shipping area in my sophomore year, and the first "Jiangnan Water Town" I checked in was Wuzhen.

As a northerner who grew up in dry land and sand (somehow, it’s like coming from Karamay), Wuzhen at that time was amazing enough, with small bridges and flowing water without dead vines and old trees, which was very consistent with the description in the textbook. .

Later, I went to more places, from Shaoxing to Zhenjiang, from Hongcun to Zhouzhuang. They were so similar that even without the stone bridge that Fennel Bean and Li Mubai walked on, it would be hard to think of going to the ancient town again.

"Sustainable development" is also a proposition that every ancient tourist town must solve. In addition to boats and blue cloth, Wuzhen has found new growth.

Theater Festival.

journey

Day1: Shanghai - Tongxiang Station - Wuzhen - Xizha - Drama Carnival - "The Dog is Barking" - "Red and Black" - Youth Hostel

Day 2: Uzbekistan South Gate of Wuzhen-North Gate of Wuzhen (Wuzhen Drama Collection)-Shanghai

There is a bus k282/k281 directly to Wuzhen from the square in front of Tongxiang Station. The first and last buses are at 7:40 and 17:50. They run every 30 minutes. The fare is 2 yuan and the trip time is 1 About hours. This bus is very full on weekends, so be prepared to stand for an hour.

Taxi fare starts at 80 yuan.

Wuzhen Theater Festival play tickets include scenic spot tickets. Tickets for Xizha alone cost 150 yuan now, which is profitable.

Some Tips at the top

1. Tickets for Xizha and Theater Festival are only valid for one-time entry into Wuzhen. If you leave the scenic area, you need to purchase it again.

2. Although the distances between theaters in Wuzhen are not that far on the map, due to the obstruction of some roads and the influx of tourists in the afternoon, it is recommended to go to the destination theater 45 minutes before the show starts.

3. The performances of the Drama Carnival will start in the morning and continue until evening in Xizha. It is recommended to finish watching the performances you want to see before 4 pm. It will be dark. Later, a large number of tourists watching the night view would join in the fun, and it was basically impossible to see the performance, only people.

4. There are restaurants in Wuzhen, but they are crowded and not cheap. In addition, the time of the drama festival is tight, so it is recommended to bring some food.

5. The drama collection in Beizha is well worth a visit. During the day you can see exhibitions + interactive installations + play VR movies (you need to go early to get a seat), and in the evening there are night readings + movie screenings + livehouse that will last until In the second half of the night, people who are very high/have a huge love for Shi Hang or Meng Jinghui can go and watch. Anyway, I went back to sleep.

Overall rating:

As one of the earliest famous ancient towns in China, Wuzhen is already at the top of the ancient towns in terms of tourist facilities, but its shortcomings are also very obvious. In addition to the activities related to the drama festival, the rest of this town is mostly homestays, restaurants, Souvenirs for sale and an antique shell.

Tickets cost 150 yuan for Xizha and 110 yuan for Dongzha, which are not cheap, not counting various consumption in the scenic area. Without the bonus points of the drama festival, Wuzhen is no longer a travel destination I would recommend.

Wuzhen is still quiet and beautiful at night, but 150 yuan is too expensive!

Wuzhen Theater Festival

The Wuzhen Theater Festival has been in its 8th year since its inception in 2013. While it has become a relatively mature theater festival in China, its popularity has also decreased slightly.

The entire drama festival spans two weekends . The official website (http://www.wuzhenfestival.com/) and official articles will release relevant information about the drama festival very early, including ticket buying, queuing, repertoire, and food. The guide for accommodation, transportation, etc. is also quite complete, and it is an activity that “can be played even if you don’t use your brain”.

Official schedule

Although the event has become less popular, tickets are still hard to buy. In addition to squatting at Damai to grab tickets at the official time, you can also receive some temporary jump tickets from Xianyu and various groups.

Through various channels, I bought two tickets in total, "Red and Black" starring Mei Ting and "The Dog Still Barking" directed by Yang Ting. I will put my experience with these two dramas in this year’s drama collection, so I won’t go into details here.

Wuzhen Grand Theater 3F perspective

In addition to specially invited repertoire performances, the drama festival also has Youth Competition, Ancient Town Carnival, Small Town Dialogue (Forum, Summit, Workshop, Reading, Exhibition) and other units. Of course, most interactions require queuing on the spot.

The Wuzhen Theater Festival article will publish the schedule for the next day's carnival one day in advance, but it rained on the day I went, and a large number of outdoor projects were canceled and adjusted. It can be said that the original plan was basically scrapped, and the performance was all based on luck.

Small peripherals released after Guizhou Opera Troupe’s performance

Xizha Carnival

Of course I have been to Xizha, but in my memory I really can’t think of anything else except the awning boat (I can’t even tell whether it’s from here or from Shaoxing) and the blue cloth hung high. This time I went to watch the drama, and I wanted to "revisit the old place" like a new tourist.

Compared to being a purely tourist attraction, Xizha’s cultural attributes are indeed much stronger, and the drama festival just enhanced the atmosphere.

The entire Xizha Street is hung with special plays and screening videos of the theater festival: Due to the epidemic, no foreign theater troupes will perform live this year, and video broadcasts will be performed instead.

The opening drama "The Red and the Black" directed by Meng Jinghui occupies the largest wall that can be seen at first sight after entering the visitor center. Next week it should be replaced by Lai Shengchuan's "Once Upon a Time".

The water stage has performances from various local operas in China from time to time, from "A Dream in the Garden" to Western Qin Opera , which is particularly suitable for Wuzhen on a rainy day. There is a small shed with eaves just across the water from the stage, which is very suitable for taking shelter from the rain while watching the show.

Puppet show "Grandma's Poetry"⬇️

Shengbai Theater Company "Art Massage"⬇️

Many carnivals were canceled due to rain, and some of the performances by small theater groups were confused. However, in an unfriendly environment, so many people still insist on doing something that is difficult to pay off in a short period of time. It is already very worthy of encouragement.

I don’t know why the “mythical beast” in the open-air movie screening square wears very mixed-match clothes, which is quite funny⬇️

In the evening, the rain gradually stopped, the number of tourists increased, and the parade resumed. Intertwined under the not-so-bright lighting of Wuzhen, I still feel that the theater festival can be launched in Wuzhen and successfully held to this day. It is also a blessing and perseverance to break through the high walls of the system.

Beizha Drama Collection

Beizha is about a quarter of an hour's walk away from Xizha. It has permanent programs during the day such as HELLO Wuzhen Trendy Art Exhibition, Space Montage, Life as a Play themed space, Door of Perception VR Film Exhibition, Wuzhen Theater Festival Retrospective Exhibition, and some evening viewings. It is composed of special events for film reading.

Although it looks like there are many columns, the area of each part is not large. If you only visit during the day, you can finish it in about 2 hours.

Space Montage can be roughly summarized as an installation exhibition of mechanical devices + light projections, scattered in several rooms, all very beautiful⬇️

A big ball of "wool"? device, but when it’s called Kafka, everything seems reasonable again⬇️

Wuzhen Fashion Art Exhibition is a very commercial gallery. Most of the exhibits have clearly marked prices, ranging from 1,000 to 100,000+. Some works were indeed sold at the exhibition, which can be regarded as a successful commercialization of art.

Among the items not for sale are the works of true fashion masters, the Chanel Goose perfume bottle with very comfortable color transitions painted by Andy Howall ⬇️

Doraemon and Hikaru Shimoda's dolls are a dream collaboration between Takashi Murakami and Fujiko Fujio⬇️.

This exhibition was also the first time I heard about Hikaru Shimoda, and I couldn’t quite appreciate it.

There is also a large number of modern trendy artists recreating classic elements in the exhibition, such as embroidery of Minnie Mouse ⬇️

3D super three-dimensional, Mario breaks free from the city water pipe⬇️

A hodgepodge of dollars and pop culture symbols ⬇️

It’s obviously cutting corners, but you can still immediately recognize what kind of fake world-famous painting this is⬇️

There are also beautiful stars and saints ⬇️

The entire art exhibition is located in a small three-story house. The area is not large, but each artist has strong personal characteristics. It is a very different visiting experience from the museum. It is recommended to take a look.

Connected to the rooftop of the art museum is a screening room. iQiyi also came to the theater festival. In addition to showing some old movies (as old as "Tunnel War"), it is also working hard to bring the fog to the theater. Call the theater and if you are willing to watch it, you can watch it for 7 hours.

Nanzha

Nanzha has not been developed and has nothing to do with the drama festival. Although it is in Wuzhen, it has not received any dividends. Just like all the lanes, while the east and west gates have been repaired and painted in an antique "wood color", the walls of the old houses in the south gate are still peeling off at will.

Looking along the river to Nanzha, on the one hand, you can see the real, primitive appearance of the current "Jiangnan Water Town", and on the other hand, you can also feel the aging of the residents and the decline of the population in the street. In a region that is entirely supported by tourism but not chosen by fate, residents here do not have many options.

I don’t know if the Wuzhen government is trying to maintain the patina of Nanzha or has forgotten it. The bridge connecting Nanzha to the other side looks shaky, with many handles falling off.

It cannot be said that there are no residents in Nanzha who are making waves in the tourism industry. Some residents have developed their own attractions, such as the Zhu family’s old house which charges one yuan and the Zhang family’s old house which charges two yuan for admission. Although I didn't go in to see it, there are really not many attractions that charge one or two yuan now. After all, a small section of the mountain road opened by villagers in Tiger Leaping Gorge costs ten yuan per person.

There are also some residents who don't seem to get along particularly well with tourists. Although it seemed that only a Chihuahua could squeeze out of such a small doorway, the owner still created an atmosphere of "a vicious dog inside."

The free areas of the South Gate and the East Gate are connected, separated by a white stone gate. After walking through the stone gate, a row of grand wooden doors built by the government in antique style and uniform door signs tell every tourist, "You have entered the scenic spot."

This place really can’t be called an attraction. At most, it’s just a place to take a leisurely walk after a meal. The products sold by residents themselves more or less feel like they are wholesale from Yiwu, and it only takes one hour to walk through the entire street. The interest of the remaining local people is more reflected in some details, such as the birthday greetings written to the owner on a mottled red wall⬇️

And I don’t know which family has set up solar panels on the river⬇️

Ending

Wuzhen is still the same Wuzhen, still the same soy sauce garden and dyeing workshop. The emergence of the drama festival has indeed revitalized it to a certain extent. Before coming here, I laughed at the overestimation of the theater festival’s ambition to rival the Venice Carnival in some drafts, but I was really disappointed after the actual experience.

Although there are still some problems in terms of the organization of the event and the quality of the scripts of the small carnival troupe, the overall presentation is already the highest performance among the domestic cultural activities I have been to. The troupe can be seen from time to time in the streets. The presence of the creators is also bringing the audience and performers closer together.

I'm not a theater fan, nor am I particularly fond of any director or comedian, but this trip to Wuzhen really made me look at Chen Xianghong, Huang Lei, Lai Shengchuan and Meng Jinghui in a new light.

Of course, this cannot cover up the fact that Meng Jinghui's "Red and Black" was poorly directed.

Wuzhen and Theater Festival | An ancient town that wants to be a little different

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