China, Suzhou: attractions, photo

One of the most remarkable Asian states on our planet is China. Suzhou is a city that is one of the most famous in the Middle Kingdom. It is called the Chinese Venice because of its enchanting beauty. By the standards of China, this is a very small town, located a hundred kilometers from Shanghai. It was founded long ago, back in 514 BC. Throughout its existence, Suzhou has repeatedly been the capital of ancient, as well as medieval states in times of power fragmentation. The comfortable location, healthy climate and charming location of the metropolis attracted many wealthy people, so here you can see a huge number of beautiful old houses.

Interesting information about the city

Many interesting features are famous for China. Suzhou is one of them. The uniqueness of this city lies in the fact that it is located in the place where the Great Chinese Canal, which was dug in antiquity, intersects with the Yangtze River.

The city is erected on the crossing of giant waterways and is permeated with an endless network of different canals. Many outstanding personalities at one time or another visited China. Suzhou in the 12th century was visited by the Venetian Marco Polo, who christened the settlement by the Chinese Venice. This nickname has survived to our times.

Numerous parks and gardens, as well as ancient architectural structures have overrun Suzhou. Some of the oldest buildings are closed, others are open only for tourists, but each of the houses is a real masterpiece of landscape architecture. And each of the parks has a poetic name, for example Tiger Hill and Harmony Garden, Mountain Villa and the Host's Garden (referring to the Internet) and many others. Each of the names keeps a beautiful and amazing legend, which visitors will be told by the guides with great joy.

Ancient city street

Many places of interest are famous for China. Suzhou is a landmark of the Celestial Empire, in which there are many of its famous objects. One of them is the ancient street of Shantan. It is located in the north-western part of the village. It begins near the city gate of Changmen and continues to the hill of Huqiu. The total length of the street is 3,6 thousand meters. Shantan was established at the time when the country was ruled by the Tang dynasty, and thus the history of the sights is over 1100 years old.

There is an opinion that the popular poet Bo Jiuyi, who lived during the reign of the aforementioned dynasty, once served as mayor of the city. At this time, he decided to streamline the river, which was also called Shantan, and along with it to put in order and its embankment street. All this was to facilitate the convenient travel of the residents of the city beyond its borders, to Huku. Since then, and was paved street of Shantan, which performed tourist and communication functions.

The Garden Capital of the Celestial Empire

Suzhou Gardens (China) is the most famous landmark of the city and the visiting card of the country. Gardens of imperial officials of various dynasties are known to people for many centuries. They have been an image of design art for many centuries. They decorated the settlement for hundreds of years, for artists and poets were a source of inspiration, were an example for copying simple people and emperors.

In these gardens everything is done according to the laws of feng shui. These rules require there the presence of large stones, which are represented by mountains, pavilions (gazebos), water and plants. This was a rigorous requirement, which was strictly observed. All reservoirs are of man-made origin. In each pond, goldfish swim, which, according to Chinese beliefs, bring good luck.

In each garden there is a corner of "wild" nature. A notation of romance in the landscape is brought by bridges that are scattered all over the place. Also in the gardens are paved zigzag pathways and galleries.

The gardens had their own history: they were transferred to possessions of various nobles, modified, altered, united, withered, united and blossomed again. Today, some of the objects are open-air museums, showing ancient Chinese gardening art.

Temple of the Cold Mountain

The city of Suzhou in China is also famous for its many different Buddhist shrines. One of the oldest is the Temple of the Cold Mountain or the Hanshan Temple. The history of this church exceeds 1400 years. Construction work on the erection of this monastery began when the Northern and Southern dynasties ruled. This was the period when the city was part of the Liang kingdom.

During the reign of the Tang family, the abbots of the Temple of the Cold Mountain were two Buddhist monks Shide and Hanshan. Then the church still had no name, and it had to be invented. But the guardian monks were so modest that they could not dare to name the future attraction in their honor. But one day an old woman met the Buddhists, who suggested calling the monastery in favor of the one who is the most intelligent. The victory went to Hanšan, who became the full rector of the object, and his name was immortalized in the name of the church.

Tiger Mountain

Sights of Suzhou (China) are extremely popular among tourists. The mountain of the Tiger, whose height reaches 36 meters, enjoys special success. It rises above the gate called Lumen, located in one of the oldest districts of the city. Here the king of the state Wu Fu Chai once buried his own father (Helu) along with three thousand sabers. The wonderful name of the mountain is explained by one beautiful legend: on the third day after Hal was buried, a white tiger came to his grave. The animal began to guard this place. Hence arose such an intriguing name.

The only surviving gates

Once Suzhou (China), whose photo we see in the article, was decorated with 16 gates. Eight of them were terrestrial and eight were water. But time destroyed almost all these objects. Up to our time, only the Panmen Gate was able to "live".

For a long time they were part of the ancient city wall, erected in 514 BC. But they were destroyed by wars, and only in the XIV century the landmark was completely reconstructed and brought back to life. Already in our era, the Twisted Gate has also been renovated in order to attract even more travelers.