Suzhou | aaarticle.com

Suzhou is the garden city of the Yangtze delta, famous for classical scholar gardens, silk and a lattice of old canals. Often called the Venice of the East, it pairs delicate landscaping with waterside lanes an hour from Shanghai.

Overview

Grown wealthy on silk and its position on the Grand Canal, Suzhou became the retreat of scholars and officials who built exquisite private gardens, several of which are now World Heritage sites. The old town keeps its grid of canals, arched bridges and whitewashed houses, and the art of the classical garden — rock, water, pavilion and view — reaches its finest here. A modern city and tech hub has grown around it, but the old quarters preserve a quieter, refined China.

Highlights

The classical gardens, among them the Humble Administrator’s Garden and the Lingering Garden, distil landscape into small walled worlds of rock and water. The canal quarter along Pingjiang Road keeps the bridges, teahouses and boats of the old water town, and the silk museum tells the story of the city’s trade. Tiger Hill and its leaning pagoda crown a stay in the garden city.