Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
concubine of the equally legendary emperor Huang Di, it traces the history of
silk production and its use from 4000 BC to the present day. There are displays
of looms and weaving machines, and reproductions of early silk patterns, but the
most riveting display - and something of a shock - is the room full of silkworms
munching mulberry leaves and spinning cocoons, and copulating moths.
Suzhou Museum, the Zhuozheng Yuan and Shizi Lin
Suzhou seems proud of the new
Suzhou Museum
(daily 8.15am-4.15pm; ¥20),
at the intersection of Dongbei Lu and Qimen Lu; you'll see plenty of pictures of
it around town. It was designed by “starchitect” I.M. Pei, and is the most successful
attempt at updating the Suzhou's characteristic white-wall and black-beam
building style. The collection is small but choice, and includes some exquisite
decorative objects, mostly china and jade; look out for the ugly toad carved out
of jasper and the elaborate carvings of Buddhist scenes onto bamboo roots.
Next door on Don
gbei Lu you'll find the largest of Suzhou's gardens.
Covering forty thousand square metres, the
Zhuozheng Yu a n
(Humble
Administrator's Garden; ¥70) is based on water and set out in three linked
sections: the eastern part (just inside the entrance) consists of a small lotus pond
and pavilions; the centre is largely water, with two small islands connected by
zigzag bridges; while the western part has unusually open green spaces. Built at
the time of the Ming by an imperial censor, Wang Xianchen, who had just
resigned his post, the garden was named by its creator as an ironic lament on
the fact that this was now all he could administer.
A couple of minutes south of the Zhuozheng Yuan is another must-see
garden, the
Shizi Lin
(Lion Grove; daily 7.30am-4.30pm; ¥30). Laid out by
monk Tian Ru in 1342, it largely consists of rocks that are supposed to
resemble lions. Part of the rockery takes the form of a convoluted labyrinth,
from the top of which you emerge occasionally to gaze down at the water
reflecting the trees and stones.
Xuanmiao Guan and Yi Yuan
Moving south from here, you arrive at the
Xuanmiao Guan
(Taoist Temple
of Mystery; daily 7.30am-4.30pm; ¥10), just north of Guanqian Jie and rather
incongruously at the heart of the modern city's consumer zone. Founded
during the Jin Dynasty in the third century AD, the temple has been destroyed,
rebuilt, burnt down and put back together many times during its history.
Nowadays the attractive complex basically consists of a vast entrance court full
of resting locals with, at its far end, a hall of Taoist deities and symbols; it's all
encircled by a newly constructed park.
A few minutes south of Guanqian Jie, on the northwest corner of the Renmin
Lu and Ganjiang Lu junction, is one of the lesser gardens,
Yi Yuan
(Joyous
Garden; daily 7.30am-11pm; ¥15), laid out in the late Qing Dynasty by official
Gu Wenbin. Considerably newer than the others, it is supposed to encompass
all the key features of a Chinese garden; unusually, it also has formal flowerbeds
and arrangements of coloured pebbles.
The Museum of Opera and Theatre and Ou Yuan
A ten-minute walk along narrow lanes due east from the end of Guanqian Jie,
the unusual
Museum of Opera and T Theatre
stands on Zhongzhangjia Xiang
(daily 8.30am-4.30pm; ¥8). The rooms are filled with costumes, masks, musical
instruments, and even a full-sized model orchestra, complete with cups of tea,
though the building itself is the star, a Ming dynasty theatre made of latticed
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