Suzhou

Suzhou (蘇州 / 苏州, Hanyu Pinyin: Suzhou, Wade-Giles: Su-chou, sometimes seen transliterated as Su-chow, Suchow, or Soochow) is one of the most famous cities in China. It lies in the lower reaches of the Yangtze and on the shores of lake Taihu in the province of Jiangsu. It is part of the Golden Triangle region. The city enjoys advantageous geography and excellent land, water and air transportation. The GDP per capita was ¥30470 (ca. US$3680) in 2003, ranked no. 25 among 659 Chinese cities.

History
Suzhou, the cradle of Wu culture, is one of the oldest towns in the Yangzi Basin. 2500 years ago, local tribes who named themselves "Gou Wu" in the late Shang Dynasty lived in the area which would become Suzhou.

In 514 BC, during the Spring and Autumn Period, King Helu of Wu established "Great City of Helu", the ancient name for Suzhou, as his capital.

In 496 BC, Helu was buried in Huqiu (Tiger Hill).

In 473 BC, Wu was defeated by Yue, another kingdom to the east that was soon annexed by Chu in 306 BC. The golden era of Suzhou was over.

By the time of Qin Dynasty, the city was known as Wu County. Xiang Yu staged his historical uprising here in 209 BC; Qin was overthrown.

During Sui Dynasty, the city was renamed Suzhou in 589 AD.

When the Grand Canal was completed, Suzhou found itself placed strategically on a major trading route. In the course of the history of China, it has been a metropolis of industry and commerce in the south-eastern coast of China.

During Tang Dynasty (825 AD), the great poet Bai Juyi constructed the Shantang Canal to connect the city with Huqiu for the tourists. In 1035 AD, the Confucius temple was founded.

In February 1130, the advancing Jin army from the north sacked the city and committed a holocaust, which was to be followed by Mongol invasion (1275 AD) and destruction of the royal city (in the centre of the walled city) in the beginning of Ming Dynasty (1367 AD).

Afterwards, the city had a more prosperous time; many of the famous private gardens were constructed by the gentiles of Ming Dynasty and Qing Dynasty. However, the city was to see another disaster in 1860 AD when the Taiping rebellion advanced on the city, to be followed by the Japanese invasion (1937 AD). Many gardens were devastated by the end of the war. In the early 1950’s, restoration was done on Zhuo-Zheng Yuan (Humble Administrator's Garden), Dong Yuan (East Garden), and others, to bring them back to life. Consequently, most of the existing gardens reflects the architecture style of Qing Dynasty (1616-1911 AD), albeit many of had a history dating back to Ming Dynasty (1368-1644 AD).

In 1981, this ancient city was listed by the State Council as one of the four cities (the other three being Beijing, Hangzhou and Guilin) where the protection of historical and cultural heritage as well as natural scenery should be treated as a priority project.

Gardens in Suzhou were added to the list of the World Heritage Sites in 1997 and 2000.

Districts and Satellite cities
Total area: 8,488 km²
population: about 5.8 million (1.1 million in the city proper)
Districts: Pingjiang, Taichang, Jinchang, Canglang and the suburbs
Satellite cities: Changshou, Zhangjiagang, Taichang, Kunshan, Wuxian and Wujiang

Tourism
Huqiu (Tiger Hill)
Xuan-Miao Guang (founded in 276 AD, rebuilt in 1584)
Huqiu Temple (founded in 327, rebuilt in 1871)
Hanshan Temple (Cold Mountain Temple) (built in 503, destroyed and rebuilt many times, last reconstruction in 1896)
Baodai Bridge (built in 816, rebuilt in 1442)
Shantang Canal (built in 825)
Huqiu Pagoda (built in 961, destroyed & rebuilt several times, last reconstruction in 1773)
Rui-Guang Pagoda (built in 1009)
Shizi Lin (built in 1342)
Lingering Garden (Liu Yuan) (built in 1525, rebuilt in 1953)
Canglang Pavilion (Blue Wave Pavilion) (Cang-Lang Ting) (built in 1696)
Humble Administrator's Garden (Zhuozheng Yuan) (built in 1513, rebuilt in 1860)

Transportation
Railroad: the Jiangsu-Shanghai Railway
Highways: the jiangsu-Shanghai Expressway
Water transportation: connected with Zhangjiagang, Liujia and Changshou
Airway: Shuofang Airport and Guangfu United Airlines Airport

Culture
Chinese opera: Kunqu Opera, Suzhou Opera and Ballad-sing;
Silk
Handicrafts: Suzhou embroidery, fans, national musical instruments, scroll mounting, lanterns, mahogany furniture, jade carving, silk tapestry, traditional painting pigments of Jiangenxutang Studio, the New Year's wood-block prints of Taohuamu Studio
Paintings
Calligraphic art
Cuisine: Yangcheng Lake huge crab

Local Celebrities
Statesmen:
Fan Zhongyan
Yen Chia-kan
Poets:
Fan Chengda
Playwrights:
Feng Menglong
Painters:
Tan Yin
Wen Zhengming
Physists:
Chien-Shiung Wu
Others: Gu Yanwu, Zhang Taiyan

Quotes
"A very great and noble city... It has 1600 stone bridges under which a galley may pass." - Marco Polo

"Capital of Silk", "Land of Abundance", "Gusu city", "Oriental Venice", "cradle of the Wu Culture", and "World of Gardens"
- nicknames of Suzhou

"Paradise in Heaven, Suzhou and Hangzhou on earth." - Chinese old saying