words

chapter nine @ 2000 June

Blue Wave Pavilion (Can Lan Ting) - Suzhou

suzhou thru my eyes

I introduced you to Suzhou in Chapters 7 and 8. Here's my take on Suzhou today.

in this issue

• from east to west
• what year is this?
• for history majors only
• the canals of suzhou
• suzhou: arts center
• suzhouren (suzhou people)

from east to west

Today's Suzhou is an interesting mix of old and new. Many of the ancient sites remain - or at least parts of them. In the meantime, Suzhou has become a high growth area in China. It is true that in the main city, much of the old is being torn down or torn away to make way for the new. Still, pockets of the old city remain - to the delight of those of us who enjoy such places.

Suzhou. A mix of old and new hurtling into the 21st Century.

WELCOME YOU TO CHUCK IN CHINA 9. WELCOME YOU TO SUZHOU!

what year is this?

Actual pictures from my actual walk on my way to my actual classes at Suzhou U.
The actual scenery, actually, is more amazing than these actual pictures actually show)

Imagine walking to your classroom every morning down an ancient 10 foot wide lane squeezed between walled rows of houses that have had people living in them since the day Christopher Columbus stepped ashore in North America.

The long lane empties out onto a stone pathway that hugs a 15 meter wide canal. You walk a few hundred meters until you reach the gate to the campus.

Along the path, osmanthus, lilac and other fragrant trees and bushes line the path. Wisteria and other creeping vines crawl the walls of the ancient houses lining each side of the canal. Thankfully.

The residents of the ancient houses, which have no indoor plumbing, are washing their "morning pots" in the canal. Ah! The fragrance of Suzhou canal life! If you don't look too closely at the water in the canal, it's a beautiful sight.

In Suzhou, it has been thus for far longer than most extant cities on earth.

And so you walk on. Chills run down your spine; two reasons, really. First, you realize these buildings - this path - these canals - have been here far longer than YOUR ancestors ancestors ancestors could even imagine.

Secondly? Because it's five minutes to eight and the bicycles and motor scooters are zooming by - everyone - teachers, students and administrators rushing past on their way to school. They rush past on bikes, scooters and motorcycles. Bouncing down this ancient stone-paved path no more than 3 meters wide. Rush hour at Suzhou University's South Gate!

As you walk - and hope the cyclists miss you - you take in the beauty of this setting.

Here and there, small stone bridges span the canal. They reach from side to side. They reach from left to right. They reach from old to new. They reach from there to here. They reach from then to now.

You walk on..... and you feel it.....you know it in your bones: You are walking stone paths that have been trod for a thousand years. Tens of millions of footsteps have trod these stones. Lately, millions of wheels have left their tread on and over the stones. You are walking through a history longer than any other on earth. You are walking in this place; you are seeing what the ancients have seen: the same stone paths, clay houses, the canals, stone bridges............. and then

............ some guy on a motor scooter shoots past you, inches from your elbow,  and you remember, it's the turn of the millennium. Marco Polo never had to put up with these crazy drivers!

for history majors only

I cannot do justice to the topic of the city of Suzhou without giving you an overview of her history. Dry as that might be to most of you - to live here, to walk the ancient hutongs here, to visit the places that have been inhabited continuously for 2,500 years sends a chill up your spine and readjusts your perception of how things were and how things are in the world. So how did this place get to be so charming? Like this:

Suzhou is located just south of the Yangzi (Yangtze) River (known as The Chang Jiang in China). Suzhou lies just east of Tai Hu (Lake Tai, China's third largest lake). Geographically it lies between the former capital of China, Nanjing (3 hours to the west) and China's (and indeed one of the world's) largest cities - Shanghai to the East. In fact, were this America, Suzhou might be considered a far suburb of Shanghai (about 50 miles to the east). But this is not America.

And Suzhou is not Shanghai.

Suzhou was founded in 514 B.C. That's B.C., not A.D.

Known as the Spring and Autumn Period of the Zhou Dynasty, China proper was divided and ruled by several Kings. The area immediately south of the Yangzi (Yangtze) River was under the control of the Wu Kingdom whose capital was in present day Nanjing.

In 514 B.C., King He Lu, King of the Wu's ordered one of his ministers to build a new city in this beautiful part of the country in the Yangzi Delta and adjacent to Lake Tai (Taihu). With verdant mountains springing up from the fertile delta here and there, the city was established in an area with natural lakes and rivers fed by Lake Taihu and the Yangzi River.

The original layout of the city in 514 B.C., surrounded as it was on all four sides by wide canals, is intact today. It runs about 5 miles long from north to south and almost 4.5 miles wide from east to west. Thus the 20 mile circumference cited by Marco Polo in 1276. As it was in 514 B.C., so it was in 1276 A.D. So shall it be in 2000 A.D.

Today's downtown Suzhou lies on the exact same site as the original city. It must be so. The entire downtown is surrounded by the wide canals on all four sides. Originally, an earthen wall was built to surround the city just inside the banks of the canals. Six gates were built for access into the city. During the first century, the earthen walls were replaced by a stone and brick city wall with fortifications and parapets throughout. The Gates were heavily fortified.

Development for the most part (and perhaps the Cultural Revolution in some part) have removed almost all of the city walls. Yet, access to the main city still lies across the canals. Modern bridges have replaced all but one of the ancient bridges spanning the canal.

Three of the ancient Gates, though, still remain and one, the Panmen Gate, still stands guard over the lone remaining part of the ancient wall. Except for the souvenir vendors and the twinkle lights strung atop the wall, a walk along Panmen Wall and to stand at the Panmen Gate can transform you back to the year 800 A.D. when it was built. It is a place not much touted in the tour books - but in my time in Suzhou, I found it one of the most fascinating places in all Suzhou to visit.

the canals of suzhou

In effect, Suzhou is a tightly enclosed island surrounded by a wide canal. Within the city, narrow canals criss-cross city streets reminiscent somewhat, of Venice. But today, on these "local" canals, there is virtually no boat traffic. In my time in Suzhou, on the narrow city canals, I saw an occasional "irrigation" boat that would ride the length of the long canal which runs down the center of the main boulevard here. It was an old boat but had on onboard pump pumping canal like a fire hose to irrigate the flowers, bushes and grass lining the boulevard. Suzhou is dripping in greenery.

Main Street Suzhou.
Taken at noon. The traffic and the "irrigation boat" were "having a rest".
Note the absence of buildings taller than 7 stories.
Under the Chinese version of the "Chinese Disability Act",
 all buildings in China 8 stories or taller must have elevators.
Thus, most cheapskate builders keep their buildings at the 7 story limit.
 

About once a week, on the canal in front of my living complex, a stone-bottomed boat with a two-person crew - one propelling the boat with a long aft-ore and another standing fore with a long bamboo pole with a scoop attachment would meander gently down the stream.

They would glide silently along the city canals scooping the shit dumped from the "morning pots" and the other flotsam floating on the canals. They'd scoop the stuff and toss it in the center part of the boat. Thus, I guess, the necessity for the "poop" deck's stone composition - a pollution control long-boat.

But at least there is an effort being made to clean the canals, little as that may be right now.

A stone-scuppered "poop-skiff" piloted by a shit-skipper
 and crewed by a shit-scooper swerves to score a "souvenir"
on a Suzhou Canal.

Here's how you can tell how bad the pollution on the city canals is:

You know sappy romance is big in China - one the songs, the greeting cards, the ads, the photography. Plus, the Suzhouese will NEVER pass up a chance to capitalize on a tourist opportunity. In concept, long-boats plying up and down Suzhou's canals carrying couples or tourists is, like, a no-brainer. Like sailing under the "Bridge of Sighs" at sunset in Venice for which folks pay thousands (USD).

Despite the fact that the canals and bridges here are just as beautiful, no one, not even the municipal government of Suzhou would even THINK about promoting Canal Cruises along the city canals; they canals are that filthy! Raw sewage and floating shit. The canals look beautiful on film - you just gotta hold your nose while you snap the picture.

In ancient times, Suzhou's canals were famous in China.
Canal boats with the "sing-song" girls plying back and forth.
 Chinese Sirens beckoning to all who were lost.

Meanwhile, over on the big canal surrounding the city, day and night, low slung river barges ply up, down, and around the main outer canal. China's Grand Canal, built in the 1200's between Beijing and Hangzhou (to the south of Suzhou) passes Suzhou just outside the city proper and the encircling city canal joins up with it so that Suzhou is a main stop for the river traffic up and down the Grand Canal. China's inter-provincial highway network is still being built so the Grand Canal still serves as a major transportation artery for moving goods from north China to south China.

Today, the canals are filthier than filth. The "sing-song" girls have docked on dry land. The Suzhou Sirens' still wail late into the night - . from the bars, the tea houses and karaoke rooms.

Along the canals, no one heeds their call. Least of all the ghosts of boats against the current current.

Note: More pictures of canal bridges in Suzhou in Chapter 10.

suzhou: arts center

Suzhou was first built as a summer playground for the Wu Kings - the place they spent their summers away from the oven that the capital city of Nanjing became in the summer. As the town spread out, it became the largest commercial and mercantile center in China by the time Marco Polo wandered into town in the 13th century.

The local residents had discovered the fine art of gathering cocoons from the prolific mulberry trees here, extracting the contents - silk - and spinning the fine fibers into beautiful tapestries and garments. Even today, 40% of all the silk products exported from China originate from the Suzhou area. The Silk Road may not end in Suzhou, but it was Suzhou's silk products that created it.

The garment skills here soon evolved into embroidery so that Suzhou also became known as the Embroidery Capital as well as the Silk Capital of China. Fantastic, thin embroidery pieces with two entirely different scenes on each side. The needlework was exquisite. It remains so today. Prices for silk and embroidery works are 1/2 to 1/3 of anywhere else in China. Add 500% if you buy such products in America.

As Suzhou's resident-merchants became wealthier and wealthier selling all the fine goods produced here both in China and abroad, they began to build lush and lavish gardens around which they constructed their residences. Surrounded by this beauty, many of the younger residents became more and more aesthetic. Creative folks from other parts of China, began to come to settle in Suzhou. Suzhou became an artists' enclave so that many Tang (618-906) and Song (960-1279 AD) Dynasty poets, writers, calligraphers and painters were either based here or drew their inspiration from visits to Suzhou, and thus left lasting legacies of many of the places in and around Suzhou sprinkled throughout classical Chinese literature and art. And those superb gardens which I will cover in a special illustrated tour in Chuck in China 10.

And as time went by, like the gardens, the number and wealth of the residents of Suzhou, flourished and grew.

suzhouren (suzhou people)

One afternoon, I was sitting in a tea house reading The Travels of Marco Polo when I ran across the following passage. To put it in context, many groups had been vying for control of China through the centuries and Genghis Khan had finally won and created the Yuan Dynasty. His son Kublai Khan was the present ruler ruling from far away Beijing. Here's what Marco had to say about the people of Suzhou circa the late 13th century:

"There are amongst them some very rich merchants, and the number of inhabitants is so great as to be a subject of astonishment. They are, however, a pusillanimous [cowardly] race, and solely occupied with their trade and manufacture. In these indeed they display considerable ability, and if they were as enterprising, manly, and warlike, as they are ingenious (clever), so prodigious is their number, that they might not only subdue the whole of the province, but might carry their views further."

Travels of Marco Polo, (Wordsworth Editions Ltd., 1997) p.182

I almost spit my tea out! Here I was reading Marco Polo's words some 700+ years later and saying, "Yeah! Been there. Done that!" His 700 year old description is STILL the most apt depiction of what I observed here at the turn of the millennium.

The merchants here are devious (my words). They really do care only about Suzhou and their business. They really don't care much about the rest of China. As for the rest of the world, well, their only interest in that regard is to lure as many "tourists" here as they can and then overcharge - no, screw them - out of as much foreign currency as they can. Away from their businesses, they are timid, almost cowardly. They would describe themselves as reserved. But when it comes to making money, though, it's "no holds barred!" Lest you think this is my purely western viewpoint, my Chinese friends from all over China assure me that I am accurately portraying it. Suzhou's merchants' reputation precedes them throughout China, and having spent a year there, I have to agree that the reputation is  deserved. And Marco Polo can even back me up on that!

Having said all that, I must admit that aside from the merchants, the people are great. I made and have kept in touch with a great many "good people" in Suzhou. Still today, I have  good, deep and lasting friendships from my time there - very good friends and they have continued to keep in touch since I have left. So many tourists pass through Suzhou and so many foreign joint ventures are being established there, the Suzhou merchants, I think, become accustomed to the idea that foreigners are stupid and willingly pay absurdly high prices for anything and everything. As they become accustomed to you, as they learn that you are living there long term (as in more than a few months), they do open up to you and the prices come down.

I can truly tell you that deep friendships can blossom among the trees and flowers of Suzhou.

I miss Suzhou.

I miss my Suzhou Friends.

Zhende! (Really!)

Chuck

Still don't believe me, take my guided tour of Suzhou in the next Chapter of Chuck in China.