Conservation of historic water towns in China: risks and opportunities

"On a good day a riverboat could hope to cover fifteen to twenty-five kilometres. The imperial grain vessels seldom kept the same crew from start to end of a journey - they would be changes along the way (Grand Canal), and sometimes the grain might be stored in granaries en route if repairs or bad weather impeded progress. The lives of the river merchants and their captains were a constant procession of misty peaks and water towns". In such a simple and realistic way Philip Ball eloquently evokes the trade developed throughout the Ming and Qing period along the Grand Canal and the central role played by water towns. In fact hundreds of water towns had flourished, between 13th and 19th century not only along the Grand Canal but also in the South of the Yangzhe river, where this paper concentrates its attention. Despite their long history, water towns are still missing a comprehensive history of their development, yet, they have become word famous as tourist destinations. Initially branded as "Venice of East" or "Venice of China" , they are visited nowadays for their own sake, and not as surrogates of Venice, by millions of Chinese tourists (Tongli receives yearly more than 3 million visitors and Wuzhen more than 4 millions). The aim of this paper is to critically examine their conservation and tourist development, through the case studies of the three towns of Nanxun, Tongli and Wuzhen. The evaluation of the planning process through which these towns have undergone, will show, hopefully the positive and negative aspects of conservation planning, presenting what is apparently experienced in China as "a successful conservation model".