Suzhou
2 Days/1 Night
Day 01
Arrive in Suzhou
Train Station picks up, tour the Humble
Administrator’s Garden, and then transfer to your hotel.
Day 02 Leave Suzhou (AB,L)
Visit the famous Grand Canal, Tiger Hill, and Hanshan Temple. Then transfer to Train
Station, depart Suzhou.
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Hotel
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Rating
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Low Season
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Single Supp
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High Season
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Single Supp
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Conference Center Hotel
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4 star
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$99
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$50
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$129
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$ 60
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v
High season
– Apr, May, Sep, Oct
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Suzhou was named Wu in the
ancient times. First built in 514B.C. the city has a rich history of 2,500
years. The old city has generally retained the unique characteristics of the
past. We can see its double-chessboard layout in which "the streets and
rivers go side by side, while the water and land routes run in
parallel"; We can also see its "3
longitudinal. 3 horizontal and one ring like" river course; its small
bridges over slowly flowing waters: its "red brick walls with black
tiled roofs" and its "historical interests and well-known
gardens". Historically this is a remarkable place rich in outstanding
talents and natural resources. The city is praised as "the earthly
heaven" for its fully developed traditional culture and its scenic
gardens.
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The Humble
Administrator’s Garden
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Built
in 1509, the garden is regarded as one of the four major gardens in China along with the Summer Palace in Beijing, the Mountain Summer Resort in
Chengde, and the Garden to Lingering in Suzhou. The garden's scenery is
focused on a central pond with various buildings of pavilions, terraces,
chambers and towers located by the water or on hillocks in a natural,
unsophisticated, and appropriate composition. Magnificent ponds cover
three-fifths of its area. All of the buildings are right next to the ponds,
so that the garden seems to be floating on the water. The garden landscape
and waterscape are simple, extensive and natural, possessing the
traditional appearances of Chinese classical gardens in the Ming Dynasty.
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Entitled as "the most famous place in Wu
region", Tiger Hill, a major tourist attraction in the city, is
located on the northwestern outskirts of Suzhou.
36 meters high, 630 meter in perimeter with a total
area of 200,000 square meters, It was an artificial hill built more than
2,500 years ago, the same time with the ancient Suzhou city. According to the
historic records, it was the tomb of King of Wu Kingdom In 496 B.C., Later
it was also famed as a Buddhism hill. With the change of the dynasties,
Tiger Hill experienced the rise and the fall endlessly during 2400 years,
which leaves us numerous relics of legacy of history. The ancient carving,
the horizontal inscribed boards, the couplets, the poems of the
celebrities, the various scenes, the paintings and the handwritings, the proses, so forth and so on, the whole reaches a seldom seen
amount, that could be hardly found around the world.
The scenery of Tiger Hill has always been regarded down through the
centuries as the best in Suzhou. The Tiger Hill has been the
favorite place for poets, writers and painters in various times. Su Dongpo, literary master of the Song dynasty once
remarked, "It's a thing for regret to visit Suzhou without seeing the Tiger
Hill". So popular is the saying that the Hill becomes a must on the
itinerary of every visitor to Suzhou.
The
hill features rocks, plants, pagodas and waterfalls together with large
number of historical relics. There are 18 famous sites of Tiger Hill, all
are the subjects of many a fascinating legend and fairy tale.
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Hanshan Temple situated near Maple Bridge to the west of Suzhou City. It was first established in
the Liang Dynasty (502-557), more than 1000 years
ago. It is said that Hanshan, famous monk of the
Tang Dynasty, has been lived and in charged of the temple, hence the name Hanshan Temple.
Destroyed
and rebuilt for many times, the present complex mainly dates from the end
of Qing Dynasty. Covering an area of 45 hectares,
the main architectural structures in this temple include the main hall of
Buddha, the hall with a circular gallery, the sutra library, the bell
tower, a pavilion tower known as Maple River Tower, etc. There are also cultural
relics including the few dozen stone tablets with inscriptions by
well-known persons from earlier centuries among which a stone tablet with
the poem "A Night Mooring by Maple Bridge" of Tang Dynasty poet Zhangji is the most famous one.
Moon
sets, crows cry and frost fills all the sky;
By maples and boat lights, I sleepless lie.
Outside Suzhou Hanshan Temple is in sight;
Its ringing bells reach my boat at midnight.
By
Zhangji
Nowadays,
listening to the bell tolls of the Hanshan Temple on the New Year's Eve is an
exceptionally grand occasion and a special tour item. On every New Year's
Eve, thousands of visitors at home and abroad gather inside and outside of
the temple to listen to the one hundred and eight bell tolls and pray for
luck and happiness in the next year.
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