Early Winter: Jiangnan at Its Most Beautiful — A Half-Frame Poem of Zhouzhuang Water Town

With every autumn rain comes a deeper chill. Late autumn and early winter always arrive in silence. Stroll through the water town, lulled by the gentle dip of oars, and listen as time drifts quietly past your ears.

As dusk settles and cooking smoke curls warmly, you simply must spend a few days in Jiangnan, weaving life into the tender softness of a water town’s deep autumn and early winter.

Everywhere you look, deep autumn blows: the wind has painted ginkgo leaves duck-wing yellow and dyed maple leaves rooster-comb red. That shimmering goose yellow and vivid cinnabar are like a few splashes of oil paint dropped onto a Jiangnan ink-wash scroll, bleeding along Zhouzhuang’s waterways.

Crossing Zhouzhuang Bridge, brilliant winter colours rush to meet you. Beneath ancient ginkgo trees, the new memorial archway hangs with vermilion lanterns. In the octagonal pavilion at the corridor’s end, an old man with a touch of leisure plays the saxophone.

Following the direction of the “Seasons of Zhouzhuang” stage, you take a detour past little bridges and flowing streams. Golden ginkgo leaves shimmer with dazzling warmth; beside bamboo railings and stone fences, the leaves of the amur maples blush crimson…

The ginkgo in front of the Zhouzhuang Museum mirrors itself in emerald water, a perfect match for whitewashed walls and dark-tiled roofs.

From deep within layer upon layer of eaves, an old tree stretches out yellowed branches, gazing at the hand-rowed boats shuttling along the canal.

Bumping right into winter

white clouds float gracefully on blue-flowered cloth

sitting at the prow, you catch a sliver of warm sun

just like you in a quiet moment

with a face full of anticipation and tenderness.

This early winter, I want to sit shoulder-to-shoulder with you on a hand-rowed boat, pouring rippling feelings into the pristine flowing water.

This early winter, I want to walk hand in hand with you down sun-drenched lanes and alleys, hiding soft secrets in the timeworn bluestone slabs.

Then, almost by accident, you slip into the tenderness of night. Orange lanterns on both banks are the guiding lights that lead your soul back to peace.

Listen to the water town’s winter whisper —

a soft Wu dialect melody circles the mortal world.

In the depths of time, a subtle fragrance lingers,

it is a soulful poem

murmuring softly in your ear.

Bright sunlight spills through the glass window, illuminating the vintage tea table. Sit calmly and set out a pot of Grandma’s Tea.

On the ancient stage they act out the love and longing of Du Liniang and Liu Mengmei. Isn’t that exactly the touch of melancholy that early winter in a water town should bring?

Early winter floats in the air.

Morning and evening shift, time passes swiftly.

The thousand-year-old town of Zhouzhuang, fragrant through the ages,

is like a unique perfume blend.

The top note is early winter’s gentleness,

the heart note the vivid, everyday bustle of the water town,

the base note the weight of Zhouzhuang’s more than a thousand years of time.

After visiting the newly renovated Shen Hall, at the exit you are surrounded by the elusive, subtle scent of the BARRIO Fragrance Theme Experience Store.

BARRIO is a salon fragrance brand with its own contracted independent perfumers. Sensitive to beauty, the perfumers have infused the charm of night-time Zhouzhuang into unique, high-quality niche fragrances.

Sometimes you may not remember a person’s face, but you always remember the way they smell.

Just as you can’t live forever in a water town, the scent of the water town is like a magical sign; whenever you smell it again, it brings back every lane you walked and every little bridge you crossed.

Take a sip of warm winter.

Early winter sunlight is pure,

stripped of all earthly dross,

shorn of every false adornment.

Your mood becomes so tranquil.

The sun is gentle and calming. In the afternoon, holding a cup of steaming coffee, holding your lover’s hand, you wander into the sunset glow spilling around the street corner.

Or nestle in a café, find a cosy spot on the sofa. Let people come and go over the little bridges and visitors hurry along the streets while your thoughts drift and scatter with the sway of a hand-rowed boat outside the window.

A cup of light early-winter joy, a plate of tender mille-feuille — let time slow down and savour a winter’s tale.

In this serene, poetic early winter, come to Zhouzhuang for an encounter. Write life a half-frame poem about Jiangnan, and declare: the most beautiful time of the year is deep autumn and early winter in this water country!