Suzhou
Tour SU1 - Tiger Hill, Han Shan Temple, Fishing Master's Garden, Grand Canal
& Ancient City Gate and Silk Factory
Tiger Hill - click
here to view picture
Tiger Hill
is located in the southwest of Suzhou City. At the foot of the hill there
is a sword pond, 5 meters deep. According to legend, the emperor of the
Wu Kingdom He Lu was buried under the pond. On the stone wall of the sword
pond are inscribed "Hu Qiu Jian Chi ("Tiger Hill and Sword Pond"
and "Feng He Yun Quan" (Windy Gully and Cloud Spring); the former
is Yan Zhenqing's calligraphy of the Tang Dynasty and the latter is Mi Di's
Calligraphy. Yunyansi Pagoda lying at the top of Tiger Hill was established
in the Song Dynasty - symbol of Suzhou - with seven stories and eight sides.
It is shaped like a pavilion and built of bricks on which there are colored
drawings.
The famous Song Poet Su Dongpo said that "It's a pity of a lifetime
if you have been to Suzhou but missed the Tiger Hill". So
popular is the saying that the Hill becomes a must on the itinerary of every
visitor to Suzhou.
The founding
father of Suzhou, King He Lu died in 600 B.C. It was said that a white
tiger occasionally appeared to guard his tomb in Tiger Hill; hence the
name for the hill. Tiger Hill is 36 meters high, 630 meter in perimeter
with a total area of 20 hectare (200,000 sqm). Tiger Hill's history can
be traced back to 2500 years ago, the same age as the city of Suzhou.
Han
Shan Temple - click here to view picture
Hanshan Temple situated near Fengqiao (Maple) Bridge to the west of Suzhou
City. It is said that Han Shan and She De, monks of the Tang Dynasty,
used to live here: hence the name Hanshan Temple. The present temple was
rebuilt after the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. The poet of the Tang Dynasty
Zhang Ji's famous poem "Night Anchoring beside Maple Bridge"
refers to this place. In the middle of the temple is the main hall of
Buddha. On either side of the hall there is a verandah. The verandah on
the right side leads to the bell tower.
The poem that made the temple famous in China and overseas reads as "The
moon descends, and crows cry in the frost-filled sky. I gaze at the riverside
maples and fisherman's light in melancholy sleeplessness. Then, outside
the town of Suzhou, the night bell of Han Shan Temple, reaches as far
as my boat."
Fishing Master's Garden
- click here to view picture
The Garden of the Master of the Nets (Wang Shi Yuan) is the best and most
celebrated of all the Suzhou gardens. The Garden is truly a masterpiece.
The effective use of space is the most impressive thing about this garden.
Rock arrangements and beautiful fish pools balance each other as well
as the house and garden. The garden also contains many examples of using
lattice windows to frame scenes of flowers or bamboo. In the early 1980s,
the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York used the Dianchunyi Court section
(located in the western part of the inner garden) as a model for a Ming
style garden.
Grand
Canal & Ancient City Gate - click here
to view picture
The Grand Canal ranks alongside the Geat Wall of China as the country's
greatest engineering achievement. For centuries, the 1800-kilometre waterway
has played a key role in the nation's trade. The first sections were dug
about 400 BC, probably for military purposes, but the historic task of
linking the Yellow and the Yangzi rivers was not achieved until the early
seventh century AD under the Emperor Sui Yang Di, when as many as six
million men may have been pressed into service for its construction.
Silk Factory
Suzhou is famous for its silk production. Located at Beisi Pagoda Scenic
Area and built in 1991, this is the first silk musuem in China. Its Silkworm
and Mulberry Hall and Weaving Hall enable visitors to understand the history
of silk and its production. See how silk is processed from the silk worm
to the final woven cloth.
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