Description:
A short way into the countryside, some fascinating primitive technology can be seen. Take bus no. K35 (¥1/15¢/10p) to the east (look out for all the porcelain lamp posts and even traffic lights) and alight at the Hutian stop on Hangkong Lu, shortly before the terminus where the bus swings right outside the large red Ri Xin General Merchandise Store; walk on for 2.5km (1 1/2 miles), or take a taxi. The route leads past a development of abandoned half-finished villas (the developer committed suicide in summer 2007) and smokeless chimneys peeping from among the green hills. The shuidui can be heard before they are seen, an irregular solid clunking from beneath a thatched hut to the left. In the middle of the town look for the peoples' center with the Chinese opera stage inside; follow a path that crosses a stream and then swings around to the left of the hut. Inside, four giant wooden mallets with long heads and pointed noses, ingeniously driven by a small water wheel and among the last of their kind, pound soggy masses of clay.
- © Frommer's 2012
Awards:
Frommer's
- Recommended 2010
