VOC's Travel BLOG
Our Travel Blog is the place to share our real life, travel experiences in China with you. Besides, we will provide information related to Chinese culture and China travel guide. "A bosom friend afar brings a distant land near." Traveling makes us to be closer, let's discover China together!
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Suzhou is the 'City of Gardens'. We will be visiting the 'Humble Administrator's Garden", the largest privately owned garden in China. The gardens didn't disappoint. Following lunch we visited 'The Number 1 Silk Factory'. Following this visit we're off to the beautiful 'Pan Gate'. Then we are off to the 'Tiger Hill Scenic Area', the most famous site in Suzhou. The site features the Tiger Hill Pagoda or the 'The Leaning Tower of China'. This tower was built long before the Leaning Tower of Pisa. This area is also beautiful, peaceful, and inspirational.
On June 22 at the 38th World Heritage Convention in Qatars capital Doha, the World Heritage Committee approved Chinas declaration of the Grand Canal, and Chinas united declaration with Kazakhstan and Kyrghyzstan of the Silk Road to be world heritages. World Heritage Committee considers Chinas Grand Canal is the worlds longest and oldest artificial watercourse, and the largest civil engineering project before the industrial revolution.
The typical scenery of stone bridges over flowing streams, ancient houses reflected in clear waters, small boats up and down the silk-like rivers in ancient water towns of Suzhou can absolutely not be ignored. When foreign friends crowded to visit Zhouzhuang, other ancient water towns nearthe townwere also gradually found. Id like to introduce some of them in Suzhou which are less referred to.
Watertown Suzhou, a delicate city from the traditional Chinese paintings in the southern regions of Yangtze River, is synonymous with small bridges, water alleys, classical gardens, deep humanities and literary quotations in almost every street. To taste its lingering charm, spring, especially the month of April should be the best period due to less visitors and travel cost. Just please well-prepared ahead of your exploration, as the delicate beauty and fine details of the city require a more tranquil, tender heart and more perceptive eyes.
Classical Chinese garden is time-honored with a history of over 3000 years, which has developed to a distinctive style of its own that enjoy a high reputation in the world garden family. A Classical Chinese garden is always a comprehensive one which combines traditional Chinese architecture, literature, calligraphy, Chinese painting, engraving and craftship. Generally, there are four garden schools in China according to regional characteristics, namely, south Yangtze River gardens (shortly known as southern gardens), south of the Five Ridges gardens, Sichuan gardens, and northern gardens, southern school of which is the most famed home and abroad. Among the four most famous gardens of China, theHumble Administrator's Garden in Suzhou, the Summer Palace in Beijing, the Imperial Summer Villa in Chengde and the Lingering Garden also in Suzhou, two of them in Suzhou that belong to the southern school.
In July 2007, I had the chance to do my first trip to China, and what a trip I had! During one month, I discovered so many things that just made me fall in love with the country and its people: a feeling I can't deny since then. Starting from Zhejiang Province (浙江省), my trip did a long way to the north including the city of Beijing (北京), our last stop-off point before flying back to my country. On our way and after having visited the amazing sprawling city of Shanghai (上海), our bus made a one day stop in the city of Suzhou (苏州). Located in Jiangsu Province (江苏省), Suzhou is one of the most famous tourist destination in China, often holding the surname of Oriental Venice as well as water, garden and silk township. Its localization at just a few kilometers away from Shanghai and Hangzhou (杭州) (the three of them form the Scenic Triangle South of the Yangtze River) is the opportunity to have a new vision of China, especially after the big city that has become Shanghai.
Generally speaking, a travel to China is not a meaningless experience for whoever has the chance to live this odyssey, the country being filled with such a huge number of tourist scenic spots, historical, cultural and natural sceneries. Visiting the country for just a few days, a month or even more, China is just a country where travelers can live adventure and fascination intertwined at the same time.
Family Reunion in Shanghai (Part II)
2009-06-19 | China travel Guide
Sunday, 14.06.2009On Sunday morning we were picked up at 9am by our local tour guide Nancy for the day trip to Suzhou. Suzhou is a famed silk production centre and a celebrated retreat brimming with gardens and canals. The drive by car took us 2 hours. First of all we visited Humble Administrators Garden, a garden dating back to the 1500s. The architecture of this place was stunning. The creator of this garden had made use of pavilions, water and plants to become a unity....
