Suzhou

Suzhou

On Sunday, 24.10.04, we, the expats of the project, visited Suzhou, an old chinese city in 1,5h driving distance of Shanghai. It has a long history, which should be written about. I will add some more text about our visit there soon.

For the moment, let’s start with a small selection of photos, kindly provided by Joo, one of my colleagues on the project.

Joo/003: Small canal in Suzhou,…

Joo/040: …which is also called ‘Venice of the East’…

Joo/038: …still a busy chinese city.

Humble Administrator’s Garden

Joo/013: Impressions from the Humble Administrator’s Garden…

Joo/017: …Zhuózhèng Yuán.

Joo/027: The view across gardens is often intentionally interrupted by walls, which leave openings only at designated spots forcing the eyes to follow a specific viewing axis.

The Lion Grove Garden

Joo/052: A really great one is The Lion Grove Garden (Shizi Lín). The most fantastic thing, thoug, is difficult to press into photos: The very long, winding, partly cave-like walks over and under all the rocks. If you ‘stick to the rules’ and stay on your way you’ll be surprised how long a way could be in this comparably small garden. We enjoyed trying all (hopefully all, otherwise we need to come back) ways through the rocks.

Cold Mountain Temple

Joo/081: Main square of Cold Mountain Temple (Hánshan Sì).

Joo/092: One of many Buddy statues with the various halls.

Joo/098: People lighten candles.

Joo/102: The tall six(?)-storey pagoda within the temple.

Tiger Hill

Joo/114: A small canal with gondolas.

Joo/126: A square half-way up the hill.

Joo/157: Especially old people appreciate some help climbing this artificial hill.

Joo/134: Half the expats in front of the pagoda atop the hill: Yin Foo, Wolfram, Birger, Britta, Shahariz.

Joo/138: That’s what the hill was set up for: A seven-storey pagoda, made of brick, very rare, …

Joo/149: …holding the final resting place of He Lu, King of the state of Wu and founder of Suzhou. The legend says he was burried with 3000 swords.

Suzhou at night

Joo/158: Suzhou is nowadays a large city,…

Joo/167: …also offering western-style ‘culture’…

Joo/172: …attracting the modern tourist…

Joo/175: …day and night.

Categories: Shanghai

Originally Created: 10/26/2004 04:55:42 PM

Last Edited: 10/31/2004