chapter ten @ 2000 Dec
suzhou for tourists
Chinese gardens are renowned the world over, and folks, this is the place it all started.
Suzhou is THE CENTER of the Chinese Garden universe. If you want to know about the "typical Chinese garden" it starts and ends in Suzhou.
Suzhou's gardens are the models for all gardens Chinese. Indeed, the Summer Palace in Beijing which was "renovated" by the Empress Dowager Ci Xi in the late 1800's near the end of the Qing Dynasty includes a section called "Suzhou Street" which was her attempt to create a Suzhou-like area in the northern city of Beijing.
(Ci Xi was the concubine who pretty much ruled China after the death of her husband Tong Li until her death in 1908, whereupon China's "Last Emperor" Pu Yi - the 6 year old child ascended to the throne - see the brilliant art house movie "The Last Emperor" for details - and who was overthrown in 1911 ending the Qing Dynasty).
This is going to sound derivative, but: "Ci Xi, I KNOW Suzhou. And Suzhou Street in The Summer Palace is NOT Suzhou!" But, I'll give the old gal this......it's not a bad re-creation of what most Chinese who have never lived in Suzhou imagine it to be."
Having said that, I'll posit this: "Suzhou is all that and a whole lot more!"
Wait! Need some western authority for the foregoing?
Well, the city of Portland, Oregon is, right now, building a "typical Chinese garden". Suzhou, of course, is the model.
More authoritative than that, in 1979 New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art (and that's about as high as you can go on the authority ladder, at least in the U.S.) constructed an annex called Ming Hall which was an exact replica of a portion of the "Master of the Nets Garden (a/k/a The Fisherman's Garden) here in Suzhou.
Oh, and by the way, from February through July of 1999, I lived across the street from the Master of the Nets Garden. It is, indeed, all that (but without the bag of chips, thank god!).
Here, we'll visit a few gardens as well as some typical scenes and bridges along the canals of Suzhou. We'll also visit a very special village named Zhou Zhuang located about 50 kilometers from Suzhou.
So let's take a look at some of the gardens of Suzhou, starting with the Fisherman's Garden (Master of the Nets).
Click on the door to continue your tour: 
Chapter Ten - Suzhou Tour:
master of the nets
blue wave pavilion
canals
bridges
zhou zhuang
More Suzhou Pictures at the Photo Gallery
Chuck
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