Water Village Shaoxing -- Rural China

Author: Shen Fuxu
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2001-09-27
Features: This book focuses on a region within The China—Shaoxing. There are abundant records and works about the history, geography, and culture of Shaoxing throughout the ages. I do not intend to emphasize these aspects but rather want to combine the scenery with emotions, embedding sentiments within the scenes, and allowing readers to share this affection. Childhood experiences are always nostalgic and poetic in memory. The water towns of childhood, though somewhat hazy in recollection, remain vividly imagined. Small bridges over flowing streams, courtyard shadows of greenery, bustling streets, people coming and going at the bridges, and shops lining the streets. In this ancestral home with white walls and black tiles, the square courtyards hold countless moments of daily life. The busyness of festivals, summer nights of cooling off and storytelling, and the joys of childhood all manifest within these architectural images. While the beauty of Shaoxing’s water town is invaluable, what is even more precious is its literary transformation. Much of the aesthetic appreciation people have for Shaoxing stems from the depictions by writers like Lu Xun. Here is the sentiment of Lu Xun’s Old Home, the vivid storytelling in The Story of the Opera, and the humorous portrayal of Kong Yiji. The theater is even more poignant and moving, with Yue Opera and Shaoxing Opera being widely beloved. Their plots and melodies add an extraordinary layer of color to Shaoxing’s scenic landscape. My records of Shaoxing are written out of emotion, with sentiment as the primary focus. Nearly half a century has passed since I left Shaoxing, yet its scenes remain vividly before my eyes. I lived in Shaoxing for twenty years, yet it feels infinitely rich and prolonged. This is all due to emotion.
Author Biography:
Shen Fuxu: A native of Shaoxing, Zhejiang, Shen graduated from the Department of Architecture at Tongji University in 1963 and joined the faculty. Currently, he is a professor at the Department of Architecture at Tongji University and has established the Shen Fuxu Research Center. His main research areas include aesthetics, art and culture, and architectural theory. His major works include Architectural Art and Culture in Weaving and Recording, Humans and Architecture, Introduction to Architecture, Aesthetics, Introduction to Modern Western Cultural History, and Architectural Design Techniques. His upcoming works include Illustrated History of Chinese Architecture, The Origin of Chinese Architectural Decoration and Artistic Culture, and Chinese Architectural Environmental Ecology.
Li Yuxiang: Born in Nanjing, Jiangsu, in August 1962, Li graduated from the Journalism Department of Wuhan University. He holds a Master of Fine Arts in Visual Arts and is a member of the China Photographers Association. Currently employed at the joint publishing house of Life·Reading·New Knowledge (Shangwu, Shudao, Xinzhong), Li has published works such as the Old Houses series of photographic collections. His works have been exhibited and published both domestically and internationally.
Shaoxing, the water town nestled at the edge of Jiangnan, is unassuming yet embodies the essence of the region—apricot blossoms, misty willows, spring rain, small bridges, flowing waters, and swallows chirping from eaves. Over time, Shaoxing has become a memory cloaked in moss, damp yet airy, shimmering with greenery, often floating with the scent of ink: Fan Li, Lu You, Xu Wei, Lu Xun—each stepping forth from Shaoxing’s ancient tianmens (traditional residential courtyards) and Xiantang (narrow canals), into Shen Fuxu’s irrepressible memories of home, of past moments that linger. Let the mind return to those distant years, to the streets and alleys, to the sound of oars, where one revisits an agrarian Shaoxing, a culturally rich Shaoxing. Water Town Shaoxing, written by Shen Fuxu and photographed by Li Yuxiang, is part of the The Rural China series. Shaoxing was once the capital of the ancient Yue Kingdom, boasting a long history. This book depicts the natural and cultural landscapes of Shaoxing’s water town, portrays life in Shaoxing during the 1940s and 1950s, filled with the author’s nostalgic recollections of childhood. It blends emotion and reason, deeply moving. The book portrays the typical cultural type of Jiangnan’s water towns, showcasing Shaoxing’s local culture brimming with human warmth and rural charm.