Suzhou Sightseeing

Suzhou has always been famous for the beauty of the city and the beauty of its women. In fact, an old Chinese saying proclaims "There's Heaven above; there's Suzhou and Hangzhou below [上有天堂, 下有蘇杭]." While much of the city's famed beauty has long since faded, there are still several restored gardens and parks that give a glimpse of its precious past. As far as the beauty of its women goes, we did catch a glimpse of a few beautiful models at a fashion show but that was obviously not a statistically valid sample. Suzhou was said to be place where many emperors preferred to look for new concubines. Suzhou was conveniently accessibly via the Grand Canal from either Beijing or Nanjing. Suzhou is an easy day trip from Shanghai.

Suzhou Canals

Suzhou is criss-crossed by canals, which is why some call it the "Venice of the East". Unfortunately, most of the buildings along the canals could use a facelift.

Humble Administrator Garden

This garden is one of the largest and better known traditional gardens now open to the public. It was originally built by a corrupt official who suddenly found a lot of of free time after being fired from his job. Much of the garden is actually occupied by a koi-filled lilly pond. The pond is crossed by several bridges that connect the various Ming style buildings located throughout the property.

Tiger Hill and Leaning Pagoda

This large park contains several unusual rocky features, all said to be related to Suzhou's founder, King He Lu of Wu. The Yuyuan Pagoda was built in 916 and, like the Leaning Tower of Pisa, it has been leaning from the very beginning.

Silk Factories

As in ancient times, Suzhou is still a large center of silk production. Tours usually include a visit to a silk factory, where ready-made clothing and other silk products are sold. A popular product is the silk comforter, the Chinese equivalent of the down blanket, which is filled with fluffy silk fibers instead of gooose down. To facilitate transportation,. the comforters are vacuum-packed into very small bags.