Going out of the south gate of Wuxi old town and then crossing the Nanchang Bridge will take you to a street called Nanchang Ancient Street. The street is 5.5 kilometers long, with the core area about 1 kilometer long spanning from the Nanchang Bridge to the Qingming Bridge. Ancient kilns, ancient houses, ancient bridges, ancient streets, ancient alleys, ancient temples, ancient pagodas and ancient docks are scattered in this area. Its history can be traced back to the 10th century A.D. when it first started as a post road built by the Northern Song Dynasty. Today this ancient street has become the epitome of thousands of years of Wu culture, water culture and Buddha culture in the ancient city of Wuxi.
After you cross the memorial archway engraved with "Guyi Canal" from the Yongle Road, you will arrive at the Nanchang Ancient Street. Or you may cross the Kuatang Bridge to the Jintaili Area which not only satisfies your appetite but also gives you an in-depth understanding of the daily life of people living by the canal. If you want to get close to the ancient canal occasionally and prefer a quieter place, you can choose the Nanxiatang Street which faces the Nanchang Ancient Street on the opposite side of the canal. Don't worry about parting ways with the Nanchang Ancient Street, because there are three ancient bridges on the ancient canal - Qingming Bridge, Yangchun Bridge and Dagong Bridge connecting the two banks of the canal.
The whole street features Jiangnan folk culture, ethnic and commercial culture, water alley culture, ancient architectural culture and religious culture. It is an epitome demonstrating the old Wuxi life in the past, and is known as an "open-air museum" of the canal culture.
