Welcome to Zhujiajiao. People have lived here for a very long time, but the town you see took shape in the Ming dynasty, when it grew rich on cotton cloth and rice. Everything here follows the water. The canals1 are the streets, the lanes run beside them, and thirty-six old stone bridges hold the two sides together. Before the railway came, a boat was the fastest way in and out, and the town was laid out on that assumption.
欢迎来到朱家角。这里住人的历史很长，但你们眼前这个镇子的样子是明代定下来的，靠棉布和稻米富起来。这里的一切都顺着水走。河就是街，巷子挨着河，三十六座老石桥把两岸连在一起。铁路修通以前，进出最快的办法是坐船，这个镇子就是照着这个前提铺开的。
The bridge ahead is the reason most people come. It is called Fangsheng Bridge, built in 1571 by a monk2 named Xingchao, and it is the largest five-arch3 stone bridge in the Shanghai area, about seventy metres long. The name means to release living creatures. Buddhists used to buy fish at the market and let them go from this bridge, and for centuries fishing was forbidden in the water beneath it. Walk up to the middle and look along the canal, that view is the one on every postcard of this town.
前面这座桥是多数人来这儿的理由。它叫放生桥，1571 年由一位叫性潮的僧人募建，是上海地区最大的五孔石拱桥，全长约七十米。桥名的意思是放生。信佛的人从前在市集上买了鱼，从这座桥上放走，桥下水面因此禁渔了几百年。走到桥中间往河上看，这个角度就是这镇子所有明信片上的那一张。
The lane4 running from the bridge is North Street. It is about four metres wide, and the eaves on the two sides almost meet overhead, so people here call it the street where you can only see one line of sky. Further along is Kezhi Garden, built in the early twentieth century by a man named Ma Wenqing. The name puts two things together, study and planting, because he wanted a place where his family could read books and grow their own food. It is the largest garden in the town and much quieter than the main street.
从桥头伸出去那条巷子是北大街。街宽约四米，两边的屋檐在头顶几乎碰上，所以本地人叫它一线街。再往里是课植园，二十世纪初一位叫马文卿的人所建。名字把两件事放在一起，读书和耕种，因为他想要一个既能读书又能自种自吃的地方。这是镇上最大的园子，也比主街安静得多。
A word of advice about how to see this place. Do not try to walk every lane. Take the canal boat one way, get off at the far end and walk back, and you will see the town from the water and from the ground, which are two different towns. The boats moor5 just past the bridge. We have two and a half hours. Please watch your step, the stones are uneven and they are slippery when wet, and keep to the side when a delivery cart comes through.
关于怎么逛，给一句建议。别想把每条巷子都走一遍。单程坐一次摇橹船，在那头下来走回来，你会从水上和地上各看一遍这个镇，那是两个不同的镇子。船在桥那头靠岸。我们有两个半小时。脚下留意，石板高低不平，湿了很滑，有送货的推车过来请靠边站。