250 Km South of Shanghai, Zhuji is a small bustling city that is busy building new streets. Its present streets are alive with enclosed pedicabs, taxis, and busses. The sidewalks are filled with street vendors, including rows of shoeshine stands, mainly operated by females.
Zhuji is the home of the Xi Shi temple, named after one of the four beautiful ladies, and the stepping off stone to other attractions including Wuxie and the National park that contains the five waterfalls.
We arrived at the train station in Shanghai, one bus late, to catch the 11:30 train to Zhuji. It was just leaving as we were buying our tickets. As a tourist late isn't a problem and Shanghai has trains leaving continually.
As we were on a budget we opted for the 2:40 milk run rather than the 1:45 express. The Express, with air conditioned cars and passenger limitation, cost Y50. Fifty Yuan, at the time of this writing, '00/Dec. was worth $9.43 Canadian.
The milk run, which actually only made five stops, allowed you to open the windows, this was handy as the windows were too grimy to take pictures through, and had unlimited passenger capacity. In other words, after they sold all the seats at Y27 they sold Y22 tickets to anyone who wanted to stand in the aisle.
Upon arrival in Shanghai I had purchased, for Y5, a street map in Chinese. While waiting for our train, wandering the streets, we came across a peddler selling maps of Shanghai, in English, for Y10. She claimed she had paid Y7 for it.
My friend, Chen Jun, who is a great bargainer, worked on the price until I got the map for Y7. I said to the lady, with a smile, "Shay shay." (Mandarin for thank you.) She replied, with a nasty snarl, "Shay shay."
I felt bad about the vendor not making any profit until later, when I was reading the map, I realized that she had obtained it from the Shanghai Municipal Tourism Commission for free.
We arrived in Zhuji well after dark. The first taxis in line didn't want to take us as we weren't going very far and they wanted to wait for a larger fare. A taxi further down the line agree to give us a ride and we went to say hi to Chen Jun's parents who have an apartment not too far from the station.
If I could read Chinese I could tell you the address of the hotel I stayed in that night. I have it here, as a small map, on the back of the hotel's business card. On the front of the card, in English and Chinese, it says, `Please take me to the Jing Du Hotel'. If you should get lost in your wanderings you need only show this card to a cab driver.
The Jing Du Hotel is a two star, 6 floor, 90 room, edifice located in the heart of the commercial district of Zhuji. The rooms are clean and reasonably priced.
I thought I was up early next morning but Chen Jun and Huang Yi Ming had already walked through town and up the hill to the West where they would have had a view for many miles in all directions but for the low lying cloud.
Once everyone was awake we walked the short distance to the small park behind which all the busses congregate. Here we caught a small bus that took us to Wuxie where we spent the night.
We returned to Zhuji late on Saturday night to find that there were no seats for sale on the train. As we didn't wish to stand all the way to Shanghai, and we were getting low on funds, we found a hotel that was lower priced than the Jing Du and actually a block closer to the train station.
Sunday morning I strolled the city of Zhuji where I saw one of the largest markets I have ever encountered. The main floor is a hubbub of many little stalls selling, literally, everything from soup to nuts. The second floor is mostly clothing, and a smaller third floor is mostly furniture.
A large portion of the main floor is businesses that concentrate on items made with pearls. Zhuji is a major producer of cultured pearls.
As well I strolled through the park along the river and across a bridge to a more upscale part of town where another park follows the other side of the river.
Like Shanghai, everything in Zhuji is dusty and grimy. Buildings in China, like those in Mexico, are not designed for heating in winter but for cooling in summer with air conditioning, fans, and tile walls and floors. The thin paint on the concrete walls allows the moisture to show through. This along with low energy fluorescent lights makes rooms look dull and lifeless.
After lunch we caught the #2 bus which didn't take us all the way to the Xi Shi temple but close enough to walk the rest of the way. Actually, if we had known, the temple was within walking distance of the hotel, not far from the park I had walked through earlier. Also, if we had know, the #12 bus would have taken us right to the temple. When we returned from the temple we took a taxi for the price of Y7.
The Xi Shi temple is named after Xi Shi, one of the four beautiful ladies of Chinese Lore.
Xi Shi, who's father was a weaver of cloth, was noted for her beauty. Some three hundred years ago a Japanese poet composed a short poem, 'A fine Drizzle in Akita,' which relates to her beauty.
Xi Shi would sit on the bank of the Huansha River and wash yarn for her father. The rock where she washed the yarn is marked to this day by the calligraphy of Wang Xizji who lived
during the Jin Dynasty.
The King of the Yue Kingdom, after losing a war (494 B. C.), chose Xi Shi for her beauty and, to save his Kingdom, sent her as a gift to the King of the Wu Kingdom.
The temple, now separated from the river by a modern street, was built, and named, in Xi Shi's honour.
The temple is very large and requires at least an hour to explore all the rooms and stairways. There are fountains where you try to toss coins into the mouths of fish statues. There is a large bell which, for a small fee, you can ring, the old fashioned way, with a small log.
Just before we left the temple we encountered some students from the Zhuji University on winter break. One of them was an English major and wanted to talk with me as I was the first English speaking person she had ever met.
From the temple we went to the market I had walked through earlier. Here I was accosted by vendors trying to sell me strings of pearls, pearl necklaces, earrings, and bracelets. In the end I bought a lovely pagoda made from strings of pearls with tiny lights throughout.
These pagodas are very common and can be found in most shops including the souvenir shops within the temple. They come in many sizes from 15 to 60 cm. The problem I encountered, when I reached home, was that they are designed to work on 220 volts.
Link to Pictures of Trains in China.
Large department stores across from the train station.
Scooters and bicycles vie with pedestrians for space on the sidewalk.
A beautiful young lady, Chen Jun, poses in front of
a `Beautiful Lady of China', on the platform of the Zhuji train depot
MAIN ENTRANCE
A 2 STAR HOTEL IN A BUSY COMMERCIAL DISTRICT
AMBIENCE
HOT WATER, (in the thermos) TEA, ASHTRAY AND MATCHES
MORNING VIEW
THE VIEW (from this room) IS AN ALLEY AND OTHER BUILDINGS
COMPETITION - WUZHOU HOTEL
ACROSS THE STREET, AT THE END OF THE ALLEY,
THE WUZHOU HOTEL,
WHERE I STAYED THE NEXT NIGHT.
PROBABLY NO STARS, BUT THE PRICE WAS RIGHT
BEAUTIFUL
LADIES
Behind this park in Zhuji is the terminus for the busses.
In the park is a statue of the `Four Beautiful Ladies' of China.
In front of the park is the Rat Pack. (L - R) Rat, Chen Jun, Monkey, Shi Yun, Huang Yi Ming, Mouse, Xie Tian Ning.
Link to the story of my trip to WUXIE, China.
GENTA RD.
LOOKING NORTH ON GENTA RD.
THE JING DU HOTEL IS ON THE RIGHT
GENTA RD.
LOOKING SOUTH ON GENTA RD
GENTA ROAD
OVERPASS.
LIKE IN SHANGHAI,
THE PEDESTRIAN OVERPASS ENCIRCLES THE INTERSECTION
ZHUJI.
LOOKING EAST FROM GENTA RD
POLICE
THE TWO WHITE VANS ARE POLICE VEHICLES. THE OFFICERS UNDER THE STAIRS WERE STOPPING TRAFFIC, LOOKING FOR SOMETHING
CONSTRUCTION
NOTE THE WALKING TRACTOR CONVERTED TO A SMALL DUMPER FOR HAULING CONCRETE.
EVERYWERE I LOOKED IN ZHUJI THERE WERE STREETS BEING BUILT OR REPAIRED
Link to Pictures of Xi Shi Temple in Zhuji.
PRODUCE
MARKET
The produce market in Zhuji.
From this market we went to a produce market where I wandered about and attracted the attention, unwillingly, of several small children who followed me about, exhausting my meagre repertoire of the Chinese Language. To every thing they would say to me I would reply, "Ting Boo dong" (I don't comprehend). They would laugh and point at me, attracting the attention of the vendors in the various stalls.
Finally, tiring of this game I left the market and walked up the street but they continued to follow, actually hanging onto my coat tail while I made like a train engine. Pumping my arms, and bending my knees, I actually dragged them along the sidewalk for a way.
Eventually, by the time we had gone about two blocks, they grew tired of the game and returned to the market.
Walking back to the market, on the other side of the street, two more small children were attracted by my size and Caucasianous and followed me, asking questions and laughing at my reply of `Ting Boo Dong' interchanged with `Wah Bu Dong' (I don't know).
Joining up with my friends who had finished their shopping we returned to the home of Chen Jun's parents where my friends cooked supper.
Huang Yi Ming, who was studying to be a chef, before moving to Canada, and Shi Yun, who is a cook in a restaurant in Shanghai, prepared a meal fit for a king, or, being in China, maybe I should say, Emperor.
Fish, grilled sliced cucumbers, salted cold duck, sliced grilled bamboo, cold chicken, fried mushroom, cold sliced beef, scrambled eggs with Chinese sausage, small eggs with egg, carrot and tiny meatball, fish soup,
After supper we took a taxi to the train station and returned to Shanghai. They were still selling standing room only tickets but we couldn't stay another night so we took what we could get only to find that they never sell seat tickets on Saturday and Sunday night because there are not enough passengers to fill all the seats.
Send me a comment (and I will add it to my Guest Book), or correction, or just say, "Hi"!
Thank you for visiting Lee's `Zhuji' Page.
Please come back and visit again.
Link to Pictures of Chen Jun's home in Zhuji.
JING DU
HOTEL
JING DU HOTEL
WUZHOU
HOTEL
The hotel I stayed at the second night in Zhuji. 118 Jiyang Lu.
Lower rates than the Jing Du but also fewer stars, probably none at all.
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