Suzhou Travel Guide

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Suzhou Overview

The city of Suzhou, situated on the shores of Lake Taihu in Jiangsu Province near the Yangtze River, is - and has long since been - one of the key cities of the Yangtze River Delta. Suzhou is one of the most popular tourist destinations in China. With its 489 sites of cultural  significance which enjoy direct protection, either under the national government, the provincial government, or the government of the city itself, Suzhou ranks third in the nation in terms of the sheer number of sites of cultural significance, being surpassed only by the cities of Xi'an (second) and Beijing.

Much of the ancient city of Suzhou is built on a maze of canals. The streets and canals form an intricate web of traffic lanes, though the canals are no longer used for traffic to the extent that they were previously. Buildings are laid out in rows facing a narrow street, with their backs to a canal.  This unique arrangement spawned an age-old local expression that continues to this day: "little bridge, running water and the household".

But the city of Suzhou is known above all for its garden culture, for, as a prosperous city even as it was being founded, Suzhou gave rise to enormous personal wealth that was translated into elaborate private gardens. The classical gardens of Suzhou - whose history can be traced back to the origin of the city, though the zenith period of garden art in Suzhou was during the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911) Dynasties - belong to some of China's best, and include the Lingering Garden, the Garden of the Master of Nets, and the Garden of the Humble Administrator, all in a perfect state, though usually as a result of intensive restoration.

The city of Suzhou owes its creation to a prince who usurped power with the help of an accomplice who recommended a competent assassin. The accomplice, after the assassin had completed his mission, i.e., had murdered the king on behalf of the prince, would then be assigned the role of chief architect of the city that would eventually be named Suzhou…

Historical Background

The area corresponding to present-day Suzhou once belonged to the Wu state during the relatively peaceful (but only relative to the period that would follow) Spring and Autumn (BCE 770- 476) period of the Eastern Zhou (BCE 770- 221) Dynasty (the following period has aptly been called the Warring States (BCE 475-221) period). The Eastern Zhou Dynasty was ruled by a series of weak leaders, and therefore its princes, who were in fact the various relatives (sons, brothers - and their sons) of the rulers of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty, all vied for power and ended up carving up the dynasty into small principalities, or states, which, during the first part of this period of weak rule, coexisted more or less peacefully (the princes all recognized the nominal rule of the Zhou Dynasty over their respective states), albeit with the occasional incidence of intrigue and royal murder.

Prince Guang, coveting the wealth and power of King Liao of Wu, decided to have the king murdered. The prince turned to a friend, Wu Zixu, who himself had earlier had to flee neighboring (and rival) Chu state on accusations of a royal plot (it is said that the charges against Wu Zixu were false, but had he not fled, he would certainly have been put to death in the best, shoot-and-ask-questions-later manner that was characteristic of the period). Wu Zixu recommended a competent agent for the task, which was carried out, and Prince Guang became King Helü in BCE 515, while Wu Zixu was put in charge of designing the new capital of the Wu state, the capital that would eventually be known as Suzhou. The new capital prospered, and its residents became wealthy, some of them even built large gardens which would become model gardens throughout China (and eventually throughout the world).

Wu Zixu was soon again called upon by King Helü, who had decided, in BCE 506, that the time was ripe to topple the Chu state. For Wu Zixu, this would be sweet revenge over the state that had forced him to flee for his life. After a series of offensives against the Chu state, King Helü and his "lieutenants", Wu Zixu and Sun-tzu, the author of The Art of War, finally prevailed.

Some years later, Wu state would itself suffer the same fate as had Chu state, and in connection with this offensive, where Yue state defeated and usurped Wu state, the son of King Helü, King Fuchai, who ascended the throne of Wu state after his father in BCE 495, would be compelled to commit suicide (he "fell on his sword", as was the custom both in China and in Japan in those times), both bitter fates - though perhaps poetic justice - for Wu state and for the son of the prince who had some years earlier ordered the death of the then King of Wu.

Before King Fuchai lost his crown - and also his head - to the ruler of Yue state, he forced the trusted ally of his father, Wu Zixu, to himself "fall on his sword" in a matter concerning court rivalry between Wu Zixu, who would offer counsel to King Fuchai regarding the danger posed by the King of Yue, and Bo Pi, a high-ranking minister who was a favorite of King Fuchai. Bo Pi insisted that the King of Yue posed no threat, and that it would therefore be folly to wage war on a peaceful neighboring state. King Fuchai preferred the counsel offered by Bo Pi, who, it later transpired, was in the services of the King of Yue. Wu state was conquered and ceased to exist as a separate political and cultural entity in BCE 473. King Fuchai's brutal end was perhaps poetic justice in more than one way.

Suzhou's Cultural Heritage

The Wu culture produced a rich tapestry of cultural influences that would shape the city of Suzhou beyond the cultural period defined by the Wu state proper. The city of Suzhou produced many literary "sons" down through history, names such as Lu Ji from the Western Jin (CE 265-316) Dynasty, the politician Fan Zhongyan and the poet Fan Chengda from the Song (CE 960-1279) Dynasty, the dramatist Feng Menglong from the Ming Dynasty, Tang Yin and Wen Zhengming of "Wu Painting School", both of whom were scholar-artists during the Qing Dynasty, and Gu Yanwu (a scholar and political activist), Yu Yue (a renowned philologist) and Zhang Binglin, aka Jiang Taiyan (a philologist, literary critic, and anti-Manchu (anti-Qing-government) agitator, all from more recent times.

Suzhou was also known for its ballad singing, its story-telling arts, and its drama which, in the Chinese context, is best interpreted as "opera", albeit, "Chinese Opera" (think of the China - Hong Kong film, Farewell My Concubine, which won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival in 1993), a genre distinct from Western opera. The Chinese Opera of Suzhou, the Kun school of opera, aka Kunqu ("Songs of Kun", a reference to nearby Mt. Kun), dominated central China for roughly the first century of the Qing Dynasty, with some overlapping with the previous Ming Dynasty period. Ballad singing, the story-telling arts and Kunqu Opera were the three pillars (or "flowers", as they were termed) of Suzhou culture.

The Kun school of opera grew out of the work of a local Suzhou musician by the name of Gu Jian, who combined the music style that was typical of "central China" for the period with the drama (read: "Chinese Opera") of "southern China" (these cultural-geographical distinctions were not exercises in semantics, but reflected the real ethno-cultural polarization that could often occur in China as a result of civil strife which caused many Chinese people to seek refuge in other parts of the country - for example many Han Chinese people, in the face of the Jürchen invasion in northern China, and later in the face of the Mongol invasion, retreated southward). Kunqu Opera, which, in its Ming/ Qing heyday, was the fully-blossomed romantic opera of the royal court, was replaced in the mid-18th century by Jingxi, or Peking Opera (to learn more about "Chinese Opera" and its various schools, click here).

The embroidery of Suzhou was famous, and, together with the embroidery traditions of Guangdong, Hunan, and Sichuan Provinces, was known as the "Four Famous Embroideries". The Suzhou tapestry method is done using fine silks and gold thread. Other famous art traditions that helped to keep Suzhou on the map, as it were, were the city's sculpture, Song-Dynasty brocade, jade and rosewood carving traditions, and - not to forget - Suzhou's classical gardens. By the end of Qing Dynasty, there were more than 170 gardens - mostly private and many sumptuous - in Suzhou.  Today, more that 60 of these gardens are preserved intact, 19 of which are open to the public. Suzhou garden art is a comprehensive design that strives to make the most aesthetic use of building- and landscape architecture, whereby buildings, plants (copses, flower beds, lawns, etc.), stones, walkways, and water all come together in topographical harmony.

When in Suzhou, be sure to pay a visit to Suzhou Museum, which has a rich collection of historical and cultural artifacts from China's ancient and not-so-ancient past. The collection includes revolutionary records, stele carvings, folk customs, drama and verse, Suzhou embroidery, silk cloth, ancient coins and Buddhist artifacts, and an exhibition on Suzhou's classical garden style.

Present-Day Suzhou

Present-day Suzhou is a modern, bustling metropolis with many nooks and crannies that hark back to the city's ancient past, and which add flavor to the city. Greater Suzhou has a population of some 6 million inhabitants, 2 million of whom inhabit the city's center and its immediate environs. Suzhou is a city not only of steel, glass and concrete, but also of greenery, thanks to the city's many classical gardens. In 1981, the government of the PRC recognized the city of Suzhou - along with Beijing, Hangzhou, and Guilin - as a Chinese cultural and historical treasure trove to be protected by the state, which also means that the future development of these cities must proceed in such a manner so as not to compromise their cultural and historical integrity.

In December 1997 UNESCO added Zhuozhengyuan Garden ("Garden of the Humble Administrator"), Liuyuan Garden ("Lingering Garden"), Wangshiyuan Garden ("Garden of the Master of Nets") and Huanxiushanzhuang ("Embracing Beauty Mountain Villa") Garden to the World Heritage List, as the best, most comprehensive set of private gardens to represent the ancient garden culture of the city of Suzhou. The classical gardens of Suzhou, long appreciated the world over for their grace and beauty, have now been recognized by the United Nations as a historical and cultural treasure belonging to all of mankind (to learn more about these four famous private gardens, click on the "Suzhou Attractions" link in the upper left column ("Suzhou Travel Guide") of this page).