Shen'ao Ancient Village, a thousand-year-old village with a unique water system

In Tonglu, Hangzhou, there is a beautiful thousand-year-old village: Shen'ao Ancient Village. Although it is a "village", it is more like a "town". It is the largest ancient village in Tonglu, with a large group of ancient buildings. There are more than 140 ancient buildings from the Ming and Qing Dynasties, and more than 60 ancient buildings from the Republic of China period. The architectural style of the ancient village mainly combines Huizhou architecture and Zhejiang West Mountain residential buildings. What is unique about Shen'ao Ancient Village is its water system, which is composed of dark canals, open ditches, Kan'er wells, ponds, and streams. The ancient village is rectangular, with old streets in the middle, running from south to north, about 500 meters long and about 3 meters wide, with cobblestone pavement and a spring dark canal (commonly known as 'ao') built underneath. The 'ao' is deep and the water is clear, hence the name of the village. In simple terms, there are live water dark canals all over the bottom of the village. 'Ao' in the local dialect means underground well, and Shen'ao means deep underground well, hence the name Shen'ao Village.