Lishu Village (蠡墅镇) in Suzhou is several hundred years old, although rumours of its name trace back two millennia. Warlords and rich merchants used to live here, their houses and courtyards built by eunichs, their money and trade earned in Suzhou.

I don’t think this place has the refined attraction of Suzhou water towns like Tongli (同理) or Lili (黎里), but these walls and rooftops have endured decades if not centuries of rain and wind, and there is a beauty to that as well. This village, now absorbed into Suzhou is sliced by waterways, has several operational wells, and shops that are actually maintained, such as a barber and a bookstore.

Already for over a decade, it has been threatened with demolition. It seems like an inevitable faith in a world made for financial growth, yet I hope the old structures (especially the bridges) will get the respect and protection they deserve. And when the last village has been razed and replaced replaced by modern high rises, we will wonder about our past. And by then, we will only find answers in those touristic watertowns — imaginary places that fit the stereotype we shaped for the past.