Suzhou was named Wu in the ancient times. First built in 514B.C. the city has a rich history of 2,500 years. The old city has generally retained the unique characteristics of the past. We can see its double-chessboard layout in which "the streets and rivers go side by side, while the water and land routes run in parallel"; We can also see its "3 longitudinal. 3 horizontal and one ring like" river course; its small bridges over slowly flowing waters: its "red brick walls with black tiled roofs" and its "historical interests and well-known gardens". Historically this is a remarkable place rich in outstanding talents and natural resources. The city is praised as "the earthly heaven" for its fully developed traditional culture and its scenic gardens.

The Humble Administrator's Garden
Built in 1509, the garden is regarded as one of the four major gardens in China along with the Summer Palace in Beijing, the Mountain Summer Resort in Chengde, and the Garden to Lingering in Suzhou. The garden's scenery is focused on a central pond with various buildings of pavilions, terraces, chambers and towers located by the water or on hillocks in a natural, unsophisticated, and appropriate composition. Magnificent ponds cover three-fifths of its area. All of the buildings are right next to the ponds, so that the garden seems to be floating on the water. The garden landscape and waterscape are simple, extensive and natural, possessing the traditional appearances of Chinese classical gardens in the Ming Dynasty.

Hanshan Temple
Hanshan Temple situated near Maple Bridge to the west of Suzhou City. It was first established in the Liang Dynasty (502-557), more than 1000 years ago. It is said that Hanshan, famous monk of the Tang Dynasty, has been lived and in charged of the temple, hence the name Hanshan Temple.

Destroyed and rebuilt for many times, the present complex mainly dates from the end of Qing Dynasty. Covering an area of 45 hectares, the main architectural structures in this temple include the main hall of Buddha, the hall with a circular gallery, the sutra library, the bell tower, a pavilion tower known as Maple River Tower, etc. There are also cultural relics including the few dozen stone tablets with inscriptions by well-known persons from earlier centuries among which a stone tablet with the poem "A Night Mooring by Maple Bridge" of Tang Dynasty poet Zhangji is the most famous one.

Moon sets, crows cry and frost fills all the sky;
By maples and boat lights, I sleepless lie.
Outside Suzhou Hanshan Temple is in sight;
Its ringing bells reach my boat at midnight.

By Zhangji

Nowadays, listening to the bell tolls of the Hanshan Temple on the New Year's Eve is an exceptionally grand occasion and a special tour item. On every New Year's Eve, thousands of visitors at home and abroad gather inside and outside of the temple to listen to the one hundred and eight bell tolls and pray for luck and happiness in the next year.