A canal-and-bridge water town founded in the Song dynasty and developed in the Ming, technically inside Minhang District at the western edge of Shanghai. Reached in half an hour by Metro Line 9, it gives a taste of what towns like Zhouzhuang or Wuzhen look like without leaving the city. Old stone bridges across a black-water canal, lanes of low timber houses, small snack stalls selling stinky tofu, sticky rice cakes and the local Qibao-style pork shoulder.
It is crowded at weekends but feels genuinely lived-in compared to the more polished water towns. Allow half a day if you stop for lunch and a boat ride along the canal.