Rongxiang Ancient Town is one of the birthplaces of China's national industry and commerce. The Rong family relocated from central China's Hubei province to Jiangsu about 600 years ago and finally settled down in Wuxi, beginning a new chapter in the family's history.
Over 100 of the architectural complexes in the town, featuring both Jiangnan- and Western-style garden villas, are still well preserved.
Two of modern China's most prominent industrialists came from the town. Beginning in the early 1900s, Rong Zongjing and his younger brother, Rong Desheng, established more than 20 mills in Shanghai, Wuxi and Wuhan over a 30–year span, contributing to the development of China's flour and cotton industries.
Now Rongxiang is a respected historical block in Wuxi that every year attracts a great number of tourists who come to marvel at the proof of the Rong family's prosperity.
