Even before Marco Polo visited Suzhou in the mid 13th century, this city in southeast China’s Jiangsu Province was considered old.
Founded more than 2500 years ago, the intrepid Italian explorer described Suzhou – named Wu in ancient times – as one of the most beautiful cities in China after gazing upon its picturesque canals and walking through its lovely gardens.
These two lures are still prime appeals today with many travellers making daytrips from nearby Shanghai. This is easy to do with abundant road and rail options linking the two centres.
For instance, it’s only 35 minutes by express train from Shanghai to China’s Venice of the East. (There are up to 40 rail services a day and even more frequent bus connections with the road journey taking an hour under favourable traffic conditions.)
Organised tours which set off daily from various points in Suzhou usually include a garden or two along with a canal cruise with time for a leisurely stroll along quaint streets.
I recommend staying at least two days, however. This allows time for a casual afternoon cup of tea in one highly landscaped area and perhaps an evening cultural performance set in another Chinese garden.
Sensational Silk
The extra time also allows you to experience a ‘shiny’ facet of the city, silk. Suzhou and silk have been synonymous for many years.
Suzhou and a number of surrounding communities are renowned for the production of silk and the subsequent weaving of the raw material into exquisite products noted for their exotic colours and intricate designs.
The Suzhou Silk Museum details the 4000 year old silk industry with one room even showing live silk worms producing the raw materials. The silk industry in large part was responsible for city prosperity.
Suzhou Gardens
The Grand Canal which passes near the city and links Beijing and Hangzhou made it easy for silk merchants and other businessmen to distribute their goods.
While road and rail transport has in large part superseded the use of the slower waterway there is still commercial traffic on navigable sections of the Grand Canal.
Visitors making a journey along the world’s longest canal will still see barges laden with goods slowly navigating the muddy waters.
I’ve cruised the Grand Canal in a large vessel and as well have savoured Suzhou in a small boat. Both are memorable experiences.
There are some 35 km of waterways in old Suzhou that are spanned by around 170 bridges.
Cruises – many visitors prefer slow moving small wooden boats sculled by a couple instead of modern motorboats – weave their way along a labyrinth of canals passing white washed tile roofed houses and 1500 year old bridges. Often the cruise concludes at a classic garden.
Grand Gardens
At one time Suzhou had up to 200 exclusive garden estates. They were the private domain of wealthy Chinese and commoners were banned from entering.
Nowadays around a dozen still remaining expanses of green are open to one and all. (Nine of them have been awarded UNESCO World Heritage status.)
I wondered why one of the oldest cities in the Yangtze basis should have so many gardens. Located at the northern edge of the subtropical zone Suzhou, I learned, has fertile soil, a moist climate and ample rainfall. Such aspects are favourable conditions for the lush greenery.
While each classical patch in old Suzhou has its own characteristics they all share the basic elements of Chinese classical garden design. Trees, shrubs, fish pools, rocks and pavilions create a Lilliputian-like world balanced in terms of harmony and proportion.
Suzhou Gardens
Many of the gardens have poetic names. There’s the Garden of the Master of the Nets (the smallest and one of the best preserved gardens in Suzhou), Lion’s Grove Garden (where there’s an array of lion-shaped rocks), Couple’s Garden (perhaps the city’s most tranquil patch of green), the wonderfully named Garden to Linger In (built by a doctor as a place for his patients to recuperate) and my favourite, the Humble Administrator’s Garden.
This place is also a preferred attraction for ‘zillions’ of visitors so plan your arrival just after it opens around 7.30 on any weekday morning. Covering an area of 4 ha. and featuring more plants than any of the city’s other tended plots, the largest of old Suzhou’s historic gardens is anything but humble.
Water is a major feature with carp-filled ponds, zigzagging bridges and bamboo groves.
Near the old Humble Administrator’s Garden (and the Lion Forest Garden) is a new avant-garde landmark that’s attracting considerable attention.
Designed by Mr I. M. Pei, the noted architect responsible for the glass pyramid before the Louvre in Paris, the architecturally striking Suzhou Museum houses some 30,000 cultural relics in a modern building that mirrors Suzhou motifs. It’s a must see attraction blending the old in a new setting.
While modernisation has swept over China old Suzhou retains much of its charm and mystique. While you will, of course, be the ultimate judge consider what one Chinese poet wrote about the city so many centuries ago, “In Heaven There is Paradise, On Earth There is Suzhou”.
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