# Potan Ancient Town (皤滩古镇)

Shaoxing, Zhejiang Province · East China, China · Guidebook rating: 4/5
Canonical: https://cnatrip.com/en/places/potan-ancient-town
Language: en

## Key facts

- **Admission:** ¥36
- **Opening hours:** 8：00—16：10
- **Time needed:** 2–3 hours
- **Address:** Potan Township, Xianju County, Taizhou, Zhejiang Province
- **Getting there:** Take a bus from Xianju Bus Station bound for Hengxi (横溪) and get off at Potan, then walk to the scenic area
- **By car:** Exit at Baita on the Taizhou–Jinhua Expressway (about 5 km to the scenic area) → Provincial Highway 35 → Potan Township → Potan Ancient Town Scenic Area
- **Good for:** Architecture

## About Potan Ancient Town

The town is lined with houses dating from the Ming and Qing dynasties, and you can still see an old opera stage and private money houses. The highlight is the Chen Clan Ancestral Hall, where ancestral tablets are enshrined. Be sure to walk the dragon-shaped street paved with pebbles, a rarity in China. The town also preserves a thousand-year-old craft, the needle-pricked boneless lantern, a national-level intangible cultural heritage often called 'a unique marvel of China.' For this reason, Xianju has been awarded the title 'Hometown of Chinese Folk Art.'

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Source: China Self-Guided Travel 2025 (《中国自助游》, Tianjin Science & Technology Press, Aug 2024), p. 1183. Prices, hours and transport details are as printed in the August 2024 edition and may have changed. Always confirm with the venue before you travel.
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