A jiaobai (wild rice shoots) festival and ancient town tourism and shopping festival kicked off at Liantang Ancient Town in Qingpu District on Wednesday, featuring countryside tourism, agricultural product displays and performances.

Running through October 4, the jiaobai festival in its 12th version includes Huju opera performances, Mid-Autumn Festival celebrations, and a market featuring fresh local agricultural produce from the fields at Dongzhuang Village.

Liantang, a Jiangnan-style watertown, is known for its jiaobai and has an annual yield of around 52,000 tons.

The town is home to a memorial to Chen Yun (1905-95), an early leader in the Communist Party of China who served as a chief postwar economic planner.