Shanghai's outskirts, far from the city, lies the peaceful and pristine ancient town of Taicang Shaxi

Actually, there is also a Shaxi ancient town in Kunming, but this Shaxi ancient town is far away yet close at hand. It's visible and tangible. It is located at No. 142 Baiyun Middle Road, Taicang City, Suzhou City, Jiangsu Province. Navigate to the nearby Dongan Road parking lot, about a 10-minute walk away, parking fee is 3 yuan/hour, and 1 yuan for each additional hour. Ancient town ticket: Free (Tour time requires 1~2 hours) Here I found a small shop of hand-painted fans, the fans are hand-painted by the boss on the spot, 15 yuan each, the price is reasonable. The surrounding area is full of small shops owned by locals, there are also pickles made by the old lady herself, small tea houses, and you can also find some old items, etc. There are many merchants selling local specialties in the middle, such as freshly fried meat floss, cloud cake, lard rice candy, pine nut candy, sugar painting, etc. There are also many intangible cultural heritage handcrafts hidden in the ancient town, such as wood carving, bamboo weaving, etc. They are all made by the master on the spot, and you can buy them directly if you are interested. This ancient town has not been fully developed, there are many original residents, basically all in the West Market Street, where the prices are very cheap, locals set up small stalls, 5 yuan/large skewer of candied haw, 10 yuan a large bag of egg rolls, 10 yuan/jin of strawberries, basically no one on weekdays, it feels like having the whole place to yourself. The ancient architecture here is well preserved, mainly the layout of 'one river, two streets, three bridges, one island', the pace of life in the ancient town is very slow, many residents around sit at the door to chat, far from the tranquility of the city, those who like quiet can come for a walk, suitable for leisure travel! Shaxi Ancient Town