Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
wood. T The Suzhou area is the home of the 5000-year-old
Kun Opera
style,
China's oldest operatic form. Kun is distinguished by storytelling and ballad
singing but can be hard to follow (even if you speak Chinese) as it is performed
in the obscure Suzhou dialect.
A five-minute walk northeast of the museum, abutting the outer moat and
along a canal, the
Ou Yuan
(daily 8am-5pm; ¥15) is a quiet garden, free from
the loudhailer-toting tour groups. Here a series of hallways and corridors opens
onto an intimate courtyard, with a pond in the middle surrounded by abstract
rock formations and relaxing teahouses.
Shuang Ta and Canglang Ting
Several blocks east of Renmin Lu and immediately south of Ganjiang Xi Lu,
the
Shuang Ta
(Twin Pagodas; daily 7am-4.30pm; ¥4) are matching slender
towers built during the Song dynasty by a group of successful candidates in the
imperial examinations who wanted to honour their teacher. The teahouse here
is crowded in summer with old folk fanning themselves against the heat.
A kilometre or so farther southwest of here, just beyond Shiquan Jie, the
intriguing
Canglang Ting
(Dark Blue Wave Pavilion; daily 8am-5pm; ¥15) is
the oldest of the major surviving gardens. Originally built by scholar Su Zimei
around 1044 AD, it's approached through a grand stone bridge and ceremonial
marble archway. T The curious Five Hundred Sage Temple in the south of the
garden is lined with stone tablets recording the names and achievements of
Suzhou's statesmen, heroes and poets.
Wangshi Yuan
The intimate
Wa n gshi Yuan
(Master of the Nets Garden; daily 7.30am-5pm;
¥20) is down a narrow alleyway on the south side of Shiquan Jie. The garden,
so named because the owner, a retired official, decided he wanted to become a
fisherman, was started in 1140, but was later abandoned and not restored to its
present layout until 1770. Considered by garden connoisseurs to be the finest
of them all, it boasts an attractive central lake, minuscule connecting halls,
pavilions with pocket-handkerchief courtyards and carved wooden doors - and
rather more visitors than it can cope with. T The garden is said to be best seen on
moonlit nights, when the moon can be seen three times over from the Moon-
watching Pavilion - in the sky, in the water and in a mirror. Other features
include its delicate latticework and fretted windows. Outside the winter months
the garden plays host to nightly arts performances (see opposite).
Pan Men and around
In the far southwestern corner of the moated area is one of the city's most pleasant
areas, centred around
Pan Men
(Coiled Gate) and a stretch of the original city
wall, built in 514 BC; the gate is the only surviving one of eight that once
surrounded Suzhou. The best approach is from the south, via
Wumen Qiao
, a
delightful high-arched bridge (the tallest in Suzhou) with steps built into it; it's a
great vantage point for watching the canal traffic (bus #7 from the train station
passes the southern edge of the moat). Just inside Pan Men sits the dramatic
Ruiguang Ta
(¥6), a thousand-year-old pagoda now rebuilt from ruins.
Eating, drinking and entertainment
Suzhou has a good range of
places to eat
and the local cuisine, with its
emphasis on fish from the nearby lakes and rivers, is justly renowned; specialities
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