MAYBE in most people’s minds, the Pearl River Delta should present us a picture in which villages are scattered among a network of rivers and lakes. Well, that was once the case. With the changing times and the development of the economy, such scenes with elements like bridge with flowing water surrounding houses like a traditional Chinese painting are no longer easily found. Gulao Water Village, however, is an exception.

    Located along the Xijiang River, the largest tributary of the Pearl River system, Gulao Water Village enjoys a long history of over 600 years. This beautiful Lingnan water village features the typical wetland geomorphology. It is nicknamed the “Venice of the East” for boasting a dazzling number of fish ponds with stone bridges over waterways, resembling the beautiful Venice in Italy.

    Gulao, a town located in the northwest of Heshan, a county-level city of Jiangmen in the southern part of Guangdong Province, faces Jiujiang Town of Nanhai District in Foshan City across the Xijiang River. It is the transportation hub of Nanhai District, Gaoming District and Heshan City.

    In the past, when the surging water of the Xijiang River flowed through this area, the river would widen and a large amount of sand would be deposited here, forming sandbanks and alluvial flats. During the reign of Emperor Hongwu in the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), under the emperor’s order, Gulao native Feng Baxiu built the Gulao Dike to prevent and control flooding. People dug many fish ponds in the alluvial flats within the dike. Between the neighboring fish ponds formed small earthen mounds. On the earthen mounds and the dike, plants like the mulberry and sugarcane were planted.

    Transportation:

    Take a bus from Shenzhen to Heshan. Get off at Heshan Bus Station, and take a taxi to Gulao Village. (Chen Xiaochun)