The villages of the Jiangnan water country are dotted everywhere like stars.
Tips
history
From Ban Gu's Han-dynasty 《西都赋》: '列卒周匝，星罗云布。' Ban Gu describes imperial guards arrayed around the capital like stars in a net and clouds spread across the sky.
usage
Use for things distributed thickly across a landscape - villages, islands, shops, temples, military posts. Neutral-positive tone. Not for disorderly scatter - it implies dense, almost patterned distribution.
