May 6 news: The May Day holiday has just ended—I wonder where everyone went traveling? As for travel destinations, if you were given two choices—one an authentic ancient town where you can slowly savor the warmth of everyday life, and the other a historical and cultural district full of "trendiness + experiential appeal"—which would you choose?

　Let time slow down

Listen to local villagers sing Yue opera, or watch them play chess, and while away a day in just this leisurely way... Walking into Chongren Ancient Town in Shengzhou, Shaoxing, Zhejiang Province, one's **first impression is "slow." This is a living ancient town; within the architectural complex of Chongren Ancient Town in Shengzhou, Shaoxing, Zhejiang Province, many original residents still live, residing in different taimen (taimen, originally an honorific for the residences of people of status, over the course of history has also come to refer to buildings of a certain scale with independent courtyards).

There are more than 150 taimen, over 10 ancestral halls and temples, and 97 wells here; the ancient architectural complex of the town is grand in scale. "The buildings here are antique and the folk customs simple and honest; you can feel the beauty of that 'slow life of the past'—it really is a treasure of a town," said tourist Ms. Zhang.

To better protect the ancient buildings, the local authorities have innovated mechanisms and systems, implementing a cultural-relic-protection "building chief" system. Following the principle of "whoever manages, uses, and is responsible," and in conjunction with the rollout of the system for publicly announcing those directly responsible for cultural relic safety, the Shengzhou cultural relics department and the Chongren town government have clearly designated the property owners and users of the taimen where the Chongren village architectural complex is located as those directly responsible, and have selected one responsible person as the cultural-relic-protection building chief. Building chiefs must carry out all cultural relic safety protection measures, including a daily inspection, and make the information of responsible persons public for oversight by society as a whole. At the same time, an annual protection contribution award has been established to reward building chiefs who achieve good results in protection work.

　　Integrating the modern with the historical

Walking into the Youche Lane handicraft street in the Xiaoxi Street historical and cultural district of Wuxing District, Huzhou City, the high walls and deep lanes of the Ming and Qing dynasties, with gray bricks and black tiles, preserve the original texture and veins of the old streets and old houses; beneath whitewashed walls and dark tiles, a dazzling array of handicraft, teaching, and experiential activities—woodwork, pottery, jewelry, painting, coffee, and more—keep visitors busy.

The Xiaoxi Street historical and cultural district is located in the commercial center of Huzhou City and is interconnected with two other Jiangnan old streets, Yishang Street and Zhuangyuan Street, together known as the "Three Streets of Huzhou." The area contains 120 cultural relic protection units and historical buildings at various levels and encompasses 357 businesses of various types, of which creative and cultural businesses account for 54.6%.

After multiple rounds of renovation and upgrading, intangible cultural heritage experience, youth social and leisure, and cultural and artistic exchange businesses have been introduced here, making it one of the Jiangnan art districts with a strong sense of trendiness, constantly stimulating new vitality in the old street. "The buildings here are old, but the various experience projects inside are novel and trendy, very much in line with young people's tastes; I come to stroll around almost every weekend," said tourist Mr. Li.