MIC Chinese Simplified Chinese Traditional English
  | Sign In | Join Now | Inquiry Basket Inquiry Basket (0) | Recent Visit History | Join Audited Suppliers | Help | Region Guide
Suzhou
Powered by Made-in-China.com

Home » Suzhou » Famous Sight

Famous Sight

Suzhou, is considered as beautiful as the paradise. As a major tourist city, it features classic gardens and elegant natural scenery. The city is famed as the Oriental Venice because it is a water city with numerous rivers, lakes and canals, such as the Yangtze River, Yangcheng Lake, Chenghu Lake and the Grand Canal.

The city is well-known with its spectacular regional products in the South of Yangtze and in China, including a brand of tea, Biluochun, a fabulous silk trademark, Suzhou embroidery, a fish from Lake Taihu, Silver Fish, a mitten crab, Dazhaxie Crab, and more... Now let's go to view below famous sights to appreciate Suzhou.

Pan Gate

Pan Gate

Pan Gate is a famous historical landmark in Suzhou, China. It is located on the south-west corner of the Main Canal or encircling canal of Suzhou. Originally built during the Warring States Period in the state of Wu, historians estimate it to be around 2,500 years old. It is now part of the Pan Gate Scenic Area. It is known for the "three landmarks of Pan Gate". They are the Ruiguang Pagoda, the earliest pagoda in Suzhou built in 247 B.C., the Wu Gate Bridge, the entrance to the gate at that time over the water passage and the highest bridge in Suzhou at the time, and Pan Gate. Pan Gate is part of the ancient city wall built in 514 B.C. that surrounded and protected Suzhou. Pan Gate was the only entrance to the wall that surrounded ancient Suzhou. It is also known in China for its architecture. It is so famous for its complex of both land and water city gates that many times, people directly refer to it as the "Land and Water Gate". In order to attract more tourists, in recent years, the city of Suzhou has renovated the old wall and built many other attractions around the original gate in the Pan Gate Scenic Area.

Xuanmiao Temple

San Qing Hall Xuanmiao Temple is a prominent Taoist temple with a long history, located at the center of old Suzhou City. The street along east-west direction in front of the temple is called Guanqian Street, a famed business pedestrian street in Suzhou. A lane called Gong Xiang along north-south direction leads directly to the gate.

Xuanmiao Temple was founded in Xianning 2nd year (AD 276), Western Jin Dynasty, and was initially named "Zhen Qing Dao Yuan". It was destroyed by wars in Southern Song Dynasty. It was rebuilt in Chunxi's years (1174-1189), and was renamed Xuanmiao Guan in 1264. In Qing Dynasty, due to the taboo against using the emperor Kangxi's name, Xuanye, the temple was renamed Yuanmiao Guan.

Xuanmiao Temple
Tiger Hill

Tiger Hill

Tiger Hill is a hill in Suzhou, China. It is a popular tourist destination and is known for its natural beauty as well as historical sites. The hill is so named because it is said to look like a crouching tiger. Another legend states that a white tiger appeared on the hill to guard it following the burial of King Helv.

Its features include:
  • Sword-Testing Rock: A rock in two pieces that was supposedly cleaved cleanly by a legendary sword of extraordinary sharpness.
  • Spring of Simplicity and Honesty: A well that, according to legend, first appeared as a spring to an exhausted monk carrying water up the entire length of the hill.
  • Yunyan Pagoda: A pagoda seven stories in height whose main architectural feature is its lean; It in fact predates the Leaning Tower of Pisa.
  • Sword Pond (Jianchi): A small rectangular pond, beneath which a treasure of some 3000 swords are believed to have been buried; This site is not excavated because the Leaning Pagoda's foundations rest on the site.
  • Lu Yu Well: A well attributed to Lu Yu, author of the first book on tea.
  • Thousand People Rock.

The Humble Administrator's Garden

The Humble Administrator's Garden (or Zhuozheng Yuan) is one of four great Chinese gardens. At 51,950 m2 it is the largest garden in Suzhou and generally considered the finest garden in southern China. In 1997, Zhuozheng Yuan, along with other classical gardens of Suzhou was proclaimed a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The garden's site was a scholar garden during the Tang Dynasty, and later a monastery garden for the Dahong Temple during the Yuan Dynasty. In 1513, during the Ming Dynasty reign of Emperor Zhengde, an administrator named Wang Xianchen appropriated the temple and converted it into a private villa with gardens, which were constructed by digging lakes and piling the resultant earth into artificial islands. The garden was designed in collaboration with the renowned Ming artist Wen Zhengming, and was as large as today's garden, with numerous trees and pavilions. The Wang family sold the garden several years later, and it has changed hands many times since.

The garden was split up in the later Ming dynasty, and it remained neglected until the Qing Dynasty reigns of Emperors Shunzhi and Kangxi, when the garden was extensively rebuilt with major modifications to its earlier plan. During Emperor Qianlong's reign the gardens were again divided into the Shu Yuan (Book of Study Garden) and the Fu Yuan (Restored Garden).

Today's garden is only very loosely related to its earliest version, but closely resembles its late Qing appearance, with numerous pavilions and bridges set among a maze of connected pools and islands. It consists of three major parts set about a large lake: the central part (Zhuozheng Yuan), the eastern part (once called Guitianyuanju, Dwelling Upon Return to the Countryside), and a western part (the Supplementary Garden). The house lies in the south of the garden.

In total, the garden contains 48 different buildings with 101 tablets, 40 stelae, 21 precious old trees, and over 700 Suzhou - style penjing/penzai.

The Humble Administrator's Garden

Suzhou Cultural

Suzhou Cultural

Suzhou Snack

Suzhou Snack

Hot Region Index: A B C D E F G H I J K L M N P Q R S T U W X Y Z