A 1,000-year-old village in Tonglu County, Zhejiang Province, eastern China, has transformed a 300-year-old local tradition into a popular summer water festival. Every summer, villagers divert spring water from an ancient underground aqueduct, allowing it to flow along the village’s cobblestone main street. Known locally as "Xijie," or "Joyful Street," the name’s Chinese homophone carries connotations of good fortune and happiness.

Tourists splash one another with basins and water guns. “Watching the water flow through the ancient streets is truly a unique experience,” said a tourist from Yunnan Province. Another visitor, who drove an hour to the village with his family, described the spring water as “clean and refreshing.”

The water comes from an underground network that has served the village for centuries. It was reportedly upgraded by Liu Bowen, a 14th-century official who lived in the village for three years. A natural clay layer three to four meters underground helps retain the water, supplying both households and farmland. Thanks to this system, the village has remained free from flooding for hundreds of years.

The festival runs every Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday afternoon through August. Street vendors sell mulian tofu, iced jelly, and mung bean soup, with the busiest vendors serving up to 300 portions a day.