
Photo & Text by CM Cordeiro © 2025
I was last in Shanghai in 2014. Back then, Zhujiajiao, Shanghai’s historic water village, was already one of the city’s most visited destinations. It had the feeling of a lively maze, with cobbled alleys and canals animated by local life. I remember browsing street stalls that sold everything from skewered meats to handcrafted silver trinkets. Wooden boats glided slowly through narrow waterways, giving visitors a sense of the town’s centuries-old rhythm. Even then, Zhujiajiao felt like a place evolving, slowly navigating the space between heritage and modern tourism.
More than a decade later, Zhujiajiao has transformed. Its historical architecture remains beautifully intact: stone bridges arch gracefully over the canals, while Ming and Qing-style shophouses still feature the latticework windows I’ve always loved. But the atmosphere feels more curated now. There’s a calm elegance to the way the town carries itself. The rhythm reminded me, curiously, of modern-day Chinatown in Singapore that was orderly, connected, and rooted in tradition but polished by contemporary touch.
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