Qibao Ancient Town

Brief Introduction of Qibao
Qibao is a very small ancient water town features with Hui style architecture in Shanghai. It’s over 30 minutes away from downtown Shanghai, but is definitely worth the trip. As a water town, it’s views aren’t nearly as scenic as those in the famous water towns like Wuzhen or Zhouzhuang, and lacks the many attractions of Suzhou, but it has plenty of excitement for a half-day visit and can be a fun place to shop and try unusual foods. It’s a great escape from the modernity of Shanghai. It is a comfortable way to see some of the old traditions, skills, wares, and snacks that you won’t see elsewhere today and preserved only by the tourism model.


Top Things to Visit in Qibao Anicent Town

Qibao cricket museum
There have a long history about cricket fighting in Qibao old town. Qibao in a period of great prosperity during the Ming and Qing Dynasty. By the prosperity Qibao also become a town popular for gambling, cricket fighting become one regular method of gambling. Before every Autumn there have many people catching, feeding, dealing and fighting cricket, this activity become more and more popular, also more and more famous.

Cotton Textile Hall
During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, Qibao was subordinated to Songjiang Prefecture and was the main distribution center for “ clothing by the world ”. The museum exhibition focuses on planting, harvesting, spinning, weaving and dyeing, and introduces the brilliant cotton textile industry of Qibao.

The Memorial Hall of Zhang Chongren
It is located on the North Street of Qibao town. The building is the style of the Qingjiang South Wharf Wall, which opened on March 17, 2003. Covers an area of 800 square meters. There are 6 exhibition treasures, and more than 20 sculptures by Zhang Chongren are exhibited.

Zhou’s Micro-carving Museum
Zhou’s father and daughter used stone carvings and micro-carvings as talents to create works of art, and micro-carved “Huaxia Treasures” series, red building stone carving series, stone pot stone carving series, Jinwen Han monument series and so on. There are thousands of pieces in the exhibition, each with different forms and unique ingenuity.


What to Eat in Qibao Ancient Town

Tang Yuan
You can find Tang Yuan in Old Street Tang Tuan shops. Locals call the Tang Yuan without soup “tuan zi.” Our top recommendation here is the tuan zi (RMB 2 each), a steamed dumpling of hand-mashed glutinous rice stuffed with minced pork -- the filling is a classic Shanghainese combination.

Hai Tang Cake
These baked rice cakes have a generous red bean filling, a slight crackle from molten caramel on the crust and a soft, pancake-like texture. The humble Hai Tang Cake is plain looking, resembling a rustic pot pie, but it is the most iconic and the most delicious of all the qi bao rice cakes

Wine Marinated Meat
There are many kinds of bad vegetables in Shanghai, but the most distinctive one is the seven treasures. It changes the traditional method of distilling the brine, using glutinous rice and sweet wine to marinate and keep the tenderness of the pork and the sweetness of the rice wine.

Qibao Mutton
The traditional Chinese dish, Qibao Braised Lamb, was first distributed by the court of the Qing Dynasty. It is said to be the favorite of the Empress Dowager Cixi. Combine lamb, rock sugar, American ginseng, red dates, fine soy sauce, etc., on a small fire for 4-6 hours, and the texture is soft and tender, sweet like honey.


Basic Information
Location: Qibao, Minhang District, Shanghai
Entrance Fee: Free for enter the Qibao Town, but you need to pay if you want to go to visit the musuems. Combation tickets for 8 museums is CNY30.
Opening Hours: whole day, the museums and attractions will closed after 17:30pm
Time for visiting: 2-3 hours

How to get to Qibao Ancient Town from Shanghai
1) Take Shanghai metro line 9 from any station in Shanghai downtown, get off at Qibao metro station exit 2, walk about 10 mins can reach Qibao Ancient Town;
2) By Shanghai city taxi from your hotel directly.
3) Take city bus No. 803,513,87,91,92,92B to get off at Qibao Station