A Beautiful City with a Long History：Suzhou
By admin on 2014-12-29

Suzhou, a beautiful city with a long history, is widely known in China for the saying “In heaven there is the paradise; on earth there are Suzhou and Hangzhou”. Located on the Yangtze delta plain in the southeast of Jiangsu Province with Shanghai as its east neighbor, Suzhou is a well-known cultural and tourist city with mild and humid climate and convenient transportation.

In 514 B.C., He Lv, King of the Wu State, had the City of Helv built, which was the origin of the present Suzhou City. In the Spring and Autumn Period, Suzhou was the capital of the Wu State, so there remain numerous historical sites relevant to Xi Shi, Wu Zixu and other famous historical figures. The city was called Suzhou for the first time in 589 A.D. and its name has never been changed since then. With its Ancient Downtown Area still standing at its original location, Su Zhou is regarded as the birthplace of the Wu Culture in the south of the Yangtze River.

Suzhou, which has a long history and a broad scale, is densely covered by small rivers within the downtown. Famous for its private gardens, it is crowned with the honor of “City of Gardens” with those diversified gardens first built in the sixth century B.C. At the end of the Qing Dynasty, there were more than 170 gardens in and out of the city; now more than 10 gardens remained. The Lingering Garden with the quintessence of garden art, the gorgeous and graceful Humble Administrator's Garden, the exquisite Master-of-nets Garden and the Lion Grove Garden with a novel and interesting layout as representatives have been inscribed on the World Cultural Heritage List. The ancient Surging Wave Pavilion, the Tiger Hill with rich cultural value, and the Happiness Garden with all kinds of good qualities for gardens are the fascinating places for tourists to visit. Thanks to the poem Mooring to the Maple Bridge at Night by Zhang Ji of the Tang Dynasty, visitors in the past and present have strived to visit the Maple Bridge and listen to the bell tolls of the Hanshan Temple. The Suzhou Museum designed by Bei Zhaoming, the architect master of Chinese origin, is the perfect combination of modern art and ancient charm of Suzhou. Since 2 it was open to visitors in 2006, it has become a popular scenic spot for visitors as well as local citizens.

Suzhou 's Biluochun Tea, one of the top ten tea species in China, enjoyed a high reputation more than 1000 years ago. Suzhou’s snacks are also known to every household, such as sweet dried bean curd, pine nut candies, rose-flavored melon seeds, jujubepaste cakes and so on. Throughout more than 200 years, Suzhou Pingtan, a local art form performed by the local dialect has been prosperous, perfectly displaying the charm of the Wu dialect. Its exquisite cultural landscape and unique folk customs have served as good materials for men of letters to chant and write poems.