B&B accommodations in Zhouzhuang

As a well-known tourist destination in Jiangsu province, Zhouzhuang has long been dedicated to developing B&Bs, inns, lodges, hostels and other accommodations.

The association of Zhouzhuang's local home stays was launched in March 2013, with 150 businesses joining the alliance.

The association recently recommended a list of hospitality businesses to help visitors. Here are the recommendations.

Latte and Rock (拿铁玩石)

The hostel, part of the Carton King Creative Park, is artfully designed with carton board, stone and metal. The venue's design team projected their humanistic thinking into the design of the industrial style lobby, Chinese-style guestrooms, simple style diner and idyllic communal space.

Address: 19 Quanfu Road, Zhouzhuang town, Kunshan

Zhengutang Residential Inn (贞固堂)

The hotel's Japanese and Korean names are listed below the Chinese and English names at the entrance, where a lamp is lit at night to cast a ring of warmth on the porch.

The four guestrooms inside the small courtyard are fitted with wooden furniture and decorated in antique style. The soft yet firm mattresses are modern products, but the silk quilt covers transcend a sense of a vintage style.

The hostel is located at the center of the town, on the bank of a canal. Sometimes, boats pass by while boat women row and sing folk ballads.

Zhengutang was where Shen Tilan (1897-1976), a famed educator and activist, spent his childhood. Zhen, in Chinese, means true to principles, and gu means perseverance. Shen's father told him that a man who has the two traits can get things done.

Address: 1 Hougang Street, near Quanfu Road, Zhouzhuang town, Kunshan

Zhenfengxuan (贞丰轩)

The south-facing compound was built by three brothers surnamed Dai from Zhejiang province before 1949. The first row houses a shop on the ground floor, because the Dai brothers were businessmen.

A big square yard, surrounded by a circle of two-storey buildings, blends Suzhou-style garden design. A Chinese crabapple tree in the corner is the best company in a free afternoon.

Address: 8 Xianyuan Alley, Zhouzhuang town, Kunshan

Chunluzhisi Resort Hotel (莼鲈之思)

Perching on the bank of the Nanhu Lake, the Chunluzhisi Resort Hotel's front door faces a broad street, where a small bamboo forest is planted, while its backyard is accessible through a boardwalk across the lake.

The décor at the reception desk hints at the venue's surroundings. Lights illuminate small fishes swimming between the lines of curvy wooden boards, resembling the rippling waters of the Nanhu Lake.

From the lobby, an open-air atrium, which is a nice place to have breakfast, can be seen through glass-paned doors.

Guestrooms facing the lake offer waterside views to lodgers.

The lakeside backyard of the hotel is an ideal spot to unwind and enjoy a few continental delights from the small German beer bar located there.

The hotel's name (莼鲈之思in Chinese) has an intriguing origin.

Back in the Western Jin Dynasty (AD 265-316), Zhang Han, a royal adviser suffering from homesickness, resigned from his post and went back home, where he could enjoy two iconic local delicacies of chuncai (莼) and four-gilled perch (鲈) for the rest of his life. The yearning for chuncai and perch (莼鲈之思) has since became an allusion to homesick and boredom of a political life.

Chuncai is the tender leaf of the aquatic plant Brasenia schreberi. Four-gilled perch is a food fish found at the Yangtze River estuary. They have been considered the most delicious food in the Yangtze River Delta.

Address: 7 Chenjia Alley, near Fuguiyuan Road, Zhouzhuang town, Kunshan

By Liu Sitong and edited by Andrew Ancheta and Jacob Hooson