"Two decades ago, Wuzhen was one of many small towns across the country that were being hollowed out by urbanization. After a major fire devastated a large part of the town, Mr. Chen, a Wuzhen native, saw an opportunity to rebuild it as a tourist destination.
"There was not much to work with. There were no postcard-worthy mountains or big rivers. But there were canals, built as part of the ancient Grand Canal system, and the town's decaying traditional architecture. * * * workers restored the old buildings and, in some cases, entirely rebuilt them.
"Residents were forced to move. Factories were shut down. Power lines were buried underground. The canals were cleaned up. Parking lots, visitor centers and hotels were built.
Note:
(a)
(i) Somehow cn.nytimes.com has not translated the report.
(ii) Wuzhen 浙江省嘉兴市桐乡市 乌镇镇
(c)
(i) "Mr Liu [Hongfei 刘鸿飞] is a member of the Black Cat Theater Group 黑猫剧团, which traveled from Beijing for the fourth annual Wuzhen Theater Festival 乌镇戏剧节, held here in October.
(ii) "Stan Lai, a Taiwanese-American playwright and one of the founders of the theater festival"
赖声川 https://zh.wikipedia.org/zh-cn/賴聲川
(iii) "Chen Xianghong, the chairman [总裁陈向宏] of Culture Wuzhen, which sponsors the theater festival. * * * Mr Chen, who is also the president [总裁] of the Wuzhen Tourism Company 乌镇旅游股份有限公司, a public-private partnership that oversees the town’s development."
Culture Wuzhen Co, Ltd 文化乌镇股份有限公司
(iv) "Wuzhen, whose claim to fame is being the birthplace of the 20th-century novelist Mao Dun"
乌镇镇 https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/乌镇镇
("民居以清代建筑为主，保存完好。全镇以河成街，桥街相连 * * * 茅盾（沈雁冰）祖辈居住的老屋，始建于十九世纪中叶，建筑面积650平方米，为清代江南民居。茅盾自1896年7月4日诞生至1910年春离乡求学，在此生活了十三年")
(v) "In the spring, the town also inaugurated the Wuzhen International Contemporary Art Exhibition [乌托邦·异托邦——乌镇国际当代艺术邀请展 or just 乌镇国际当代艺术邀请展; Mar 27 - June 26, 2016], which featured a high-profile international advisory committee and presented works by 40 major artists including Damien Hirst, Ai Weiwei and Zhang Dali 张大力 [graffiti artist]."
(vi) "There is also the Mu Xin Art Museum 木心故居紀念館, which opened last year. It is dedicated to the work of the artist and Wuzhen native Mu Xin [原名孙璞，笔名木心 (1927－2011)], who was imprisoned during the Cultural Revolution and later exonerated."
(vii) "Meng Jinghui 孟京辉, the artistic director of this year’s theater festival"
(d) "local delicacies* * * like scallion rolls 花卷"