Qibao Ancient Town (Qi Bao)

Qibao Ancient Town can be considered one of the demonstrations of China's ancient towns growing around religious centers - temples.

The town is located in Shanghai's southwest with a rough 10km distance from downtown. Visitors can take the metro line 9 to Qibao Station to arrive at the site of the ancient town.

The town's traceable origin can be dated back to the early stage of the Dynasty Song (around 1000) when the Qibao Temple was relocated here, and hence the town was officially named after the temple. 

Those narrow alleys, stone bridges, restaurants and souvenir selling shops that are housed in clusters of classical-looking houses, form up similar scenes that you could see in many ancient water towns in southern China. The distinctive attraction representing the region's root is the Qibao Temple which is nestling snugly next to the commercial streets.