THE Yuhang area in the center of the Yangtze River Delta is sometimes called the "land of multiple cultures."

Yuhang contains the Xixi Wetland, the Liangzhu Culture Village and archeological site with a museum, and Tangxi Ancient Town with winding lanes along the Grand Canal.

Tangxi Ancient Town

Though not as famous as Wuzhen or Xitang ancient towns, Tangxi used to be a prosperous watertown in the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911) dynasties.

It was once the leading town of Jiangnan, the region south of the lower reaches of Yangtze River, because it was situated at the start of the Hangzhou-Beijing Grand Canal and thus was a collection and distribution point for all kinds of products.

The town fell into disrepair but the Yuhang government recently renovated the shabby area into a picturesque town with white-walled houses with black tile roofs, red lanterns and a stream winding through the town.

Shuibei Street lies north of the river. To maintain the old look of the north bank, old bluestone paving has been used.

Many houses along Shuibei Street have been remodeled to be shops.

Ju Yuan Chang, an old confectionery store, is to open soon. The name was discovered embedded in the wall, along with the word for "caramel," indicating it was a sweets shop.

As it was a prominent town, Emperor Qianlong (1711-1799) of the Qing Dynasty visited Tangxi in 1727 and discovered that neighboring Jiangsu and Anhui provinces had defaulted on huge grain taxes, while Zhejiang had paid everything due to the imperial court.

To commend Zhejiang. The emperor issued a decree absolving the place from paying taxes for the following two years. The decree was carved on a stele.

Today the government plans to build a park around the stele.

Narrow lanes are another feature of the town, but they were actually spaces between large houses for wealthy residents.

Xixi Wetland and Museum

Xixi is China's first national wetland park. It covers just 3.4 square kilometers but features beautiful scenery and wildlife, and rich cultural heritage dating back millennia.

Over 70 percent of the area is water - wetlands, rivers, streams, lakes and pools.

Taking an ancient-style boat is a great way to see the area, following the crisscrossing rivers and streams. At every turn there are beautiful sights - flying, paddling, diving birds, persimmon trees, aquatic plants and reed marshes.

Xixi's culture is also well known. It was considered a place of tranquillity and seclusion since ancient times, a pure land and a Xanadu in the world of mortals.

It is said the old stage under a spreading camphor tree in Shentankou is the place where the first performance of northern-style Yueju Opera was performed.

The strikingly designed National Wetland Museum within the park is China's first professional wetland museum and it uses multi-media technology. It describes wetland ecology and threats faced by wetlands in China and worldwide.

Designed as large "flying saucer" by noted Japanese architect Arata Isozaki, the 20,200-square-meter museum opened last November and is already a landmark in the rural area.

It contains four halls: Hall of Introduction, Hall of Wetlands and Mankind, Hall of China and Hall of Xixi Wetland.

The museum "recreates" diorama slices of different types of wetlands, such as the West Siberian Peat Bog (the world's largest peat bog), the Lake Victoria Wetland in Africa and the Great Barrier Reef in Australia.

With scale-down versions of trees soaring to the ceiling, it has virtual birds flying on a screen behind the "forest." Real fish swim in an aquarium and there are real aquatic plants. But the other wildlife are virtual and the bird song is recorded. Still, it's a lovely scene.

Other exhibits show Native American Totem Poles with scowling images and African customs.

The Hall of Xixi Wetland explains the formation of wetland and the life of the ancient people in the area. It shows the life of rural residents today.

Past the hall is a bright, soaring space with skylights, the site of the West Lake Salon which was held last week and gathering Expo participants from cities around the world.

In keeping with the government's low-carbon message, the museum has only one elevator and arranges exhibitions along a winding pathway going upward.

As visitors ascend they see colorful photographs taken by local bird watchers.

With vivid models of animals and plants and interactive multimedia technologies, the exhibitions explain the detailed ecology of wetlands and how they support the environment, threats facing wetlands and actions needed to protect wetlands. There's also a 4-D theater.

The museum is very family-friendly and has already received more than 300,000 visitors.

Liangzhu Cultural Village and Liangzhu Museum

Liangzhu Town, site of the village and museum, is about 20 kilometers from downtown Hangzhou.

From 3400-2250 BC, the Neolithic Liangzhu culture flourished in the area; the period is sometimes referred to as the "dawn of Chinese civilization." It was also the last Neolithic jade culture in the Yangtze River Delta.

The Liangzhu people used the waterways of the region to develop advanced agriculture and irrigation. The culture and art were highly sophisticated.

The society was highly stratified, and silks, carved jades, ivory and lacquer artifacts were found in tombs of the wealthy.

Liangzhu jade, with a milky, bone-like color, represented the last jade culture of the Neolithic Age.

They were often finely worked ritual jades, commonly incised with the taotie motif featuring zoomorphic or stylized human-animal shapes.

Agriculture included rice paddy cultivation and aquaculture. Houses were often constructed on stilts over streams and shores.

In 2007, the Zhejiang Province government announced discovery of the base of an ancient city wall surrounding the capital of the Liangzhu Kingdom (today's Hangzhou at its heart), whose influence extended as far as today's Shanghai, Jiangsu and Shandong provinces.

The 34-square-kilometer archeological area is open to visitors and contains more than 50 Liangzhu tombs, altars and other sites.

The Liangzhu Museum opened in 2008 is an attraction in its own right, a piece of art as well as a functional space.

Designed by the British firm David Chipperfield Architects, the building has been well received in architectural circles. The tan and cream-colored stone facade of the museum evokes the color of famous Liangzhu jade.

Based on four simple rectangular bars covered in the warm hues of golden Iranian stone, the museum also has the feeling of contemplative galleries and museums throughout Europe and America.