Hotels in Suzhou, China

A little about Suzhou...

Suzhou is a city on the lower reaches of the Yangtze River and on the shores of Lake Taihu in the province of Jiangsu, China. The city is renowned for its beautiful stone bridges, pagodas, and meticulously designed gardens which have contributed to its status as a great tourist attraction. Since the Song Dynasty (960-1279), Suzhou has also been an important centre for China's silk industry and continues to hold that prominent position today. The city is part of the Yangtze River Delta region. The GDP per capita was ¥79,406 (ca. US$10,087) in 2006, ranked no. 5 among 659 Chinese cities.

Landmarks:
Pan Gate-is 2,500 years old and was first built by the state of Wu in the Warring States Period. It is renowned for its unique structure as a combined water and land gate.
Tiger Hill (Huqiu)
Xuanmiao Guan (originally built in 276 AD, rebuilt in 1584)
Huqiu Temple (originally built in 327, rebuilt in 1871)
Cold Mountain Temple (Hanshan Si) (built in 503, destroyed and rebuilt many times, last reconstruction in 1896)
Baodai Bridge (built in 816, rebuilt in 1442)
Yunyan Pagoda (built in 961)
Lingering Garden (Liu Yuan) (built in 1525, rebuilt in 1953)
Master of the Nets Garden (Wang Shi Yuan) (built in the Song Dynasty)
Mountain Villa with Embracing Beauty
The Retreat & Reflection Garden
Humble Administrator's Garden (Zhuozheng Yuan) (built in 1513, rebuilt in 1860)
Gate of the Orient, the city's tallest building due for completion in 2007
Suzhou Museum, the newly built museum by I. M. Pei

Transportation: Suzhou is conveniently located on the Jinghu Railway linking Shanghai and Nanjing, the provincial capital, to both of which there is hourly railway service. Suzhou Railway Station is among the busiest passenger stations in China, having 139 trains stopping daily. T-Trains only take 45 minutes to Shanghai and an hour and half to Nanjing. Driving options include the Jiangsu-Shanghai Expressway, the Yangtze Riverine Expressway, the Suzhou-Jiaxing-Hangzhou Expressway. In 2005, the new Suzhou Outer Ring was completed, linking the peripheral county-level cities of Taicang, Kunshan, and Changshu. By water, Suzhou is connected with Zhangjiagang, Luzhi, Liujia and Changshou.

Although Wuxi Shuofang Airport and Guangfu United Airlines Airport serve as two municipal airports, and the State Council approved of the construction of an airport exclusively serving Suzhou in 2003, air transportation from Suzhou continues to be at Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport and Shanghai Pudong International Airport in Shanghai.

Culture: Chinese opera: Kunqu originates in the Suzhou region, as dœs the much later Suzhou Opera. Ballad-singing, or Suzhou pingtan, is a local form of storytelling that mixes singing (accompanied on the pipa) with portions in spoken dialect.
Silk
Handicrafts: Suzhou embroidery, fans, national musical instruments, scroll mounting, lanterns, mahogany furniture, jade carving, silk tapestry, traditional painting pigments of Jiangenxutang Studio, the New Year's wood-block prints of Taohuawu Studio.
Paintings
Calligraphic art
Cuisine: Yangcheng Lake huge crab
Suzhou Silk Hand Embroidery Art

Education:
Public institutions having full-time Bachelor's degree programs include:
Suzhou University, also named Soochow University
Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University