Day 1: Meet you at your hotel and visit to Zhuozheng Garden, Suzhou Museum, Grand Canel, Pingjiang Road.
Program:
Your private tour guide and driver will meet you at your hotel and star the program from
Zhuozheng Garden.
It is also called Humble Administrator Garden, which is the representative of Yangtze Delta Garden with the soul - Water. All the architectures and was build water-centredness. Further more, in the south part of Zhuozheng Garden, there is the only one garden meseum in China named Suzhou Garden Meseum. You could learn more information about Chinese gardens.
And then we will go to
the Grand Canel. The Grand Canal of China is the oldest and longest canal in the world (from Beijing to Hangzhou), regarded as one of the greatest ancient project of China. We will visit its Suzhou section today.
After having lunch in a local restaurant, we will go on our program to
Suzhou Museum. Here you could not only enjoy more than 40,000 pieces of treasures, but also enjoy its new building desgin by great architect Ieoh Ming Pei.
At the last but not the least, we go to
Pingjiang Road, the epitome of Suzhou Old Town. It keep the structures as Suzhou in Song Dynasty: alley by the river, housing facing the bridges.
Meals: Lunch
Day 2: Today we will discover Hanshan Temple, Tiger Hill and Qili Shantang. Enjoy Kunqu Opera in Shantang.
Program:
Today's program star from famous temple in China -
Hanshan Temple. It is a Rinzai Zen of Zen Buddhism temple which was first build in 502 - 519 AD. It is really famous to Chinese becuase we all learn an famous ancient poetry "the Night of Maple-Bridge", the poetry describe the view in this area and the poet's psychological. So visit Hanshan Temple, to get the Zen, the view and Chinese ancient poetry.
After visiting Hanshan Temple, we go to
Tiger Hill. It is not only a hill, but a gathering place of ancient Suzhou residents. Now you could visit Tiger Sword Pool, Tiger Tower, Hanhan Spring, Site of Avalokitesvara Palace, Wanjing Mountain Villa, ect. Here you could discover local culture, emperor culture, scholar-official culture, buddhism culture.
And then, we will go to
Qili Shantang. Here is a Shantang canel and street connecting Tiger Hill and Chang Gate (West Gate of Ancient Suzhou City); Because its length is 3600 meters is almost 7 Li (Chinese traditional distance unit, 1 Li is about 500 meters), so named QiLi (7 Li) Shantang. Its history could date back to Tang Dynasty (825 AD). Here in Qili Shantang, you could not only touring as ancient Suzhou people, but also enjoy one of the most beautiful opera -
Kunqu Opera.
Meals: Lunch
