A Visit to Suzhou … Part 1
Suzhou (Chinese: 苏; pinyin: Sūzhōu; Suzhou dialect: 州[səu tsøʏ]), previously transliterated as Su-chou, Suchow, and Soochow, is a major city located in the southeast of Jiangsu Province in Eastern China, located adjacent to Shanghai Municipality. The city is situated on the lower reaches of the Yangtze River and on the shores of Taihu Lake and is a part of the Yangtze River Delta region. Administratively, Suzhou is a prefecture-level city with an urban population of over 4 million expanding to over 10 million in the administrative area.
Originally founded in 514 BCE, Suzhou has over 2,500 years of rich history, and relics of the past are abundant to this day. The city's canals, stone bridges, pagodas, and meticulously designed gardens have contributed to its status as one of the top tourist attractions in China. Since the Song Dynasty (960-1279), it has also been an important center for China's silk industry. The classical gardens in Suzhou were added to the list of the UNESCO World Heritage Sites in 1997 and 2000. Suzhou is often dubbed the "Venice of the East" or "Venice of China".
For more details on the city, you can visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suzhou.
First stop in Suzhou was the Garden of the Master of the Nets. The Master of the Nets garden, then called Ten Thousand Volume Hall, was first constructed in 1140 by Shi Zhengzhi the Deputy Civil Service Minster of the Southern Song Dynasty government. Shi Zhengzhi was inspired by the simple and solitary life of a Chinese fisherman depicted in philosophical writings. After his death the garden passed through numerous ownerships and subsequently fell into disarray until around 1785 when it was restored by Song Zongyuan, a retired government official of the Qing Dynasty. He drastically redesigned the garden and added multiple buildings, but retained the spirit of the site. He often referred to himself as a fisherman and renamed it the Master of the Nets Garden, as an allusion to the simple life of a fisherman.
Ownership passed to Qu Yuancun, a scholar well-versed in the classics and literature, in 1795. He added and remodeling buildings, planted trees, and arranged stones. The garden acquired the nickname of Qu's Garden during this period as well as its first acclaim by critics. Ownership passed to Li Hongyi, an imperial official and master calligrapher in 1868. About half of the steles in the garden are inscribed by him. Ownership passed to He Chang in 1940, who restored both the garden and returned the name back to Master of Nets Garden. He stipulated in his will the garden should be donated to the government. In 1958 his daughter He Zehui gave the garden to the Suzhou government.
During the late 18th century it was recognized for its herbaceous peonies. In his Notes on the Master of Nets Garden, Qian Daxin stated, "A good integration of the delights of the village and town," and during the early 20th century it served as the studio of the celebrated landscape painter Zhang Daquin. Modern critic Chen Congzhou feels the Master of the Nets Garden is the best representation of all classical Chinese garden art, as stated in Famous Classical Gardens of China.
Our trek to the gardens…
This is a wonderful example of an official litter. A little bit of history on the litter…
This is a beautiful painted map of the gardens.
All throughout the gardens there are amazing carvings. Below are some examples of some of those carvings. Some were destroyed during the Cultural Revolution, however many were saved. It is a shame that so many of the historical antiques of China were destroyed. Fortunately this garden was protected and managed to make it through without damage.
The following pictures are from our tour of this lovely garden and the house.
Isn’t this a lovely name for this receiving room for the women. We are all aware of the ancient and not so ancient cultural sexism of China. Women had a lower social position in their culture. The room below was ‘their’ room.
Amazing!!!! In the walkway…
This place goes through the life cycle of the worms and then processes the silk. The whole process is incredible. There are racks of moths and eggs.
The full life cycle.
They heat them up to kill the larve inside.
These are not wasted either… they are used for something too… just can not remember what the guide told us.
Then the silk is woven into fabric. Did I mention this equipment they are using is ancient? It is ancient!! Since the factory was opened ancient. The punch cards that are just above this picture are the templates for the design it is to weave. They are strung together with string. Pretty amazing stuff.
and Zhouzhuang Water Village… Part 2
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
It had been a while since we had done any exploring, so we decided we would do a little day tour last Saturday to Suzhou and Zhouzhuang water village. We thought it would be nice to get out of the city for a day since Michael’s work schedule has been so crazy. So I booked the tour and they are coming to pick us up at 7:45am Saturday morning.
For whatever reason, I just could not seem to get to sleep Friday night. The alarm is set for 6am. When it sounded I felt like I had just gotten in bed… but I rolled out like a good trooper. I skipped the coffee as I knew it was a long ride to Suzhou and had no idea whether we would find western bathrooms or just squat pots. And as we all know… I do not do squat pots!!! First mistake… no coffee and no breakfast.
We are ready and out the door by 7:35am to walk to the front gate to meet our tour bus. We are almost to the gate when we ran into a young fellow in a pink shirt. He approaches us and sure enough he is, Frank, our guide for the day. He has ridden the subway to meet up with us and the bus.
Much to our dismay there has been a misunderstanding with the bus driver and he is thinking 8:45am pickup…oops!!! So after about 20 mins of back and forth with the driver, we load up in a cab and head for Puxi to meet up with the bus at the next pickup location at a hotel close to YuYuan Gardens. We get there only minutes before the bus so all is back on track.
The bus is canary yellow… you can see it a mile away. The seats are so close that leg room is non-existent!!! Far worse than any airline I have ever taken!! I am grateful that the bus seats about 20 people and there are only 9 of us counting the guide. At least we can sit sideways with our legs and feet in the center aisle. And little did we realize… the shocks were completely shot… what a day we were going to have!!!
We collect Andrea and Jada, a couple of girls from Sydney, Australia who have come to Shanghai for a long weekend. Now that is an ambitious weekend… the flight is 11 hours from Sydney. They were both friendly and just fun ladies. They worked for Qantas Airlines. They were taking advantage of one of the perks for working for an airline! However I think the 11 hour flight would have been a bit of a deterrent for me. But they vowed to spend very little time sleeping for the 3 days they are here… better them than I for sure!
Now… we move on to the Intercontinental Hotel off Nanjing Lu to pick up the last 4 folks of the tour group. We get there and are one short. He is sick and cannot join in the tour so we pick up the 3 men and we are off. The guys we picked up are from Chicago!
The ride from Shanghai to Suzhou is 1 hour and 40 minutes. It was nice to see beyond the limits of Shanghai. However it was a long time before we saw any country sides to speak of. It was like one long metropolitan area for the most part all the way to Suzhou.
Here is a little background of Suzhou…
Originally founded in 514 BCE, Suzhou has over 2,500 years of rich history, and relics of the past are abundant to this day. The city's canals, stone bridges, pagodas, and meticulously designed gardens have contributed to its status as one of the top tourist attractions in China. Since the Song Dynasty (960-1279), it has also been an important center for China's silk industry. The classical gardens in Suzhou were added to the list of the UNESCO World Heritage Sites in 1997 and 2000. Suzhou is often dubbed the "Venice of the East" or "Venice of China".
For more details on the city, you can visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suzhou.
First stop in Suzhou was the Garden of the Master of the Nets. The Master of the Nets garden, then called Ten Thousand Volume Hall, was first constructed in 1140 by Shi Zhengzhi the Deputy Civil Service Minster of the Southern Song Dynasty government. Shi Zhengzhi was inspired by the simple and solitary life of a Chinese fisherman depicted in philosophical writings. After his death the garden passed through numerous ownerships and subsequently fell into disarray until around 1785 when it was restored by Song Zongyuan, a retired government official of the Qing Dynasty. He drastically redesigned the garden and added multiple buildings, but retained the spirit of the site. He often referred to himself as a fisherman and renamed it the Master of the Nets Garden, as an allusion to the simple life of a fisherman.
Ownership passed to Qu Yuancun, a scholar well-versed in the classics and literature, in 1795. He added and remodeling buildings, planted trees, and arranged stones. The garden acquired the nickname of Qu's Garden during this period as well as its first acclaim by critics. Ownership passed to Li Hongyi, an imperial official and master calligrapher in 1868. About half of the steles in the garden are inscribed by him. Ownership passed to He Chang in 1940, who restored both the garden and returned the name back to Master of Nets Garden. He stipulated in his will the garden should be donated to the government. In 1958 his daughter He Zehui gave the garden to the Suzhou government.
During the late 18th century it was recognized for its herbaceous peonies. In his Notes on the Master of Nets Garden, Qian Daxin stated, "A good integration of the delights of the village and town," and during the early 20th century it served as the studio of the celebrated landscape painter Zhang Daquin. Modern critic Chen Congzhou feels the Master of the Nets Garden is the best representation of all classical Chinese garden art, as stated in Famous Classical Gardens of China.
Our trek to the gardens…
This is a wonderful example of an official litter. A little bit of history on the litter…
In Han China the elite travelled in light bamboo seats supported on a carrier's back like a backpack. In the Northern Wei Dynasty and the Northern and Southern Song Dynasties, wooden carriages on poles appear in painted landscape scrolls.
A commoner used a wooden or bamboo civil litter (Chinese: 民轿; pinyin: min2 jiao4), while the mandarin class used an official litter (Chinese: 官轿; pinyin: guan1 jiao4) enclosed in silk curtains.
The chair with perhaps the greatest importance was the bridal chair. A traditional bride is carried to her wedding ceremony by a "shoulder carriage" (Chinese: 肩舆; pinyin: jiān yú), usually hired. These were lacquered in an auspicious shade of red, richly ornamented and gilded, and were equipped with red silk curtains to screen the bride from onlookers.
Public sedan chair in Hong Kong, ca 1870
Sedan chairs were once the only public conveyance in Hong Kong, filling the role of cabs. Chair stands were found at all hotels, wharves, and major crossroads. Public chairs were licensed, and charged according to tariffs which would be displayed inside. Private chairs were an important marker of a person's status. Civil officers' status was denoted by the number of bearers attached to his chair. Before Hong Kong's Peak Tram went into service in 1888, wealthy residents of The Peak were carried on sedan chairs by coolies up the steep paths to their residence including Sir Richard MacDonnell's (former Governor of Hong Kong) summer home, where they could take advantage of the cooler climate. Since 1975 an annual sedan chair race has been held to benefit the Matilda International Hospital and commemorate the practice of earlier days.
This is a beautiful painted map of the gardens.
All throughout the gardens there are amazing carvings. Below are some examples of some of those carvings. Some were destroyed during the Cultural Revolution, however many were saved. It is a shame that so many of the historical antiques of China were destroyed. Fortunately this garden was protected and managed to make it through without damage.
The following pictures are from our tour of this lovely garden and the house.
Isn’t this a lovely name for this receiving room for the women. We are all aware of the ancient and not so ancient cultural sexism of China. Women had a lower social position in their culture. The room below was ‘their’ room.
Amazing!!!! In the walkway…
Our Australian folks… Jada on the left and Andrea on the right!
It was truly a beautiful and tranquil garden. Gardens of China seem to be more about rocks and trees intersecting with structures and water. Never seems to be many flowers… if any.
From the gardens we are heading to the No. 1 Silk Factory. Upon our arrival we are handed a discount card… which I am all too familiar with. It is a good indication that there is a store with lots of products ready to be purchased. Which there was!!!
But I will say… the discussion and tour of silk production was fascinating. They grow special mulberry trees to feed the little silk worms. They are specifically pruned to make the leaves huge with the most nutrients.
The growing silk worms are contained in large shallow baskets filled with the mulberry leaves.
These are amazing little critters. They are smooth and soft. And as with everything in China… nothing is wasted. The poop from the worms is said to have properties that can ease arthritis or headaches among several other medical issues. So they collect the poop and insert them in pillows. They are called ‘Poop Pillows’!!
Where they spin their cocoons.
The full life cycle.
They heat them up to kill the larve inside.
They separate the larvae from the silk from the cocoons and it is wound onto rings.
These are not wasted either… they are used for something too… just can not remember what the guide told us.
Raw silk is then laid out of the sun on the drying racks.
Then the silk is woven into fabric. Did I mention this equipment they are using is ancient? It is ancient!! Since the factory was opened ancient. The punch cards that are just above this picture are the templates for the design it is to weave. They are strung together with string. Pretty amazing stuff.
If the silk is to be used as batting for quilts, the wet cocoons are stretched.
The stretched silk is then stretched a little more…
From here we are ushered into the sales floor… where we promptly bought a silk California king quilt and cover. Before we could get out, Michael talked me into a poop pillow!!!! Now I sleep next to a silk worms poop!!!! What on earth could I be thinking… EEW!
Before we could leave Suzhou, we made a stop at the ancient wall that originally surrounded the city... which is surrounded by a moat… that’s right… a moat!!
What history we stepped into… humbling… just humbling.
From the wall, we went to the restaurant for a forgettable lunch. But after lunch it just so happened that an embroidery place was right next door. What a coincidence! Although this was expected, I will say that the silk embroidery was unexpected. The detail of the work was something to see. There were 3 framed works, one of Mao, then Princess Diana, and lastly the Mona Lisa. It absolutely looked like a fine oil painting, but in fact, was silk embroidery work. I wish I could have taken a picture to show you, but no photos allowed.
As we moved through a few more rooms of various pictures done in embroidery, we were told that most of the works were done by experts and took years to complete. As one might guess, we could not afford any of these that ran into the hundreds of thousands to the millions of RMB. Even when we got to the cheap room… they were quite expensive. So we left with no examples in our possession!
Next stop… Zhouzhuang Water Village… about 50 minutes away.
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