Suzhou

Suzhou^[a] is a major prefecture-level city in southern Jiangsu province, China. As part of the Yangtze Delta megalopolis, it is a major economic center and focal point of trade and commerce.

Quick Facts 苏州市Soochow, Sou-tseu, Country ...

Suzhou 苏州市 Soochow, Sou-tseu
Prefecture-level city
Gate to the East at Suzhou Industrial Park Zhouzhuang Town Garden of Cultivation Suzhou HSR New Town Lingering Garden
Location of Suzhou in Jiangsu
Suzhou
Coordinates (Suzhou municipal government): 31°18′00″N 120°37′10″E
Country	People's Republic of China
Province	Jiangsu
County-level divisions	11
Established	514 BC
Municipal seat	Gusu District
Government
• Type	Prefecture-level city
• Party Secretary	Liu Xiaotao
• Mayor	Wu Qingwen
Area [1]
• Prefecture-level city	8,488.42 km2 (3,277.40 sq mi)
• Land	5,851 km2 (2,259 sq mi)
• Water	2,394.50 km2 (924.52 sq mi)
• Urban	2,944.4 km2 (1,136.8 sq mi)
• Metro	12,493 km2 (4,824 sq mi)
Population  (2020 census)
• Prefecture-level city	12,748,252
• Density	1,500/km2 (3,900/sq mi)
• Urban	6,715,559
• Urban density	2,300/km2 (5,900/sq mi)
Demonym	Suzhounese
GDP[2]
• Prefecture-level city	CN¥ 2.272 trillion US$ 352.2 billion
• Per capita	CN¥ 178,207 US$ 27,629
Time zone	UTC+8 (Beijing Time)
Postal code	215000
Area code	512
ISO 3166 code	CN-JS-05
HDI (2015)	0.868– very high[3]
City flower	Osmanthus
City tree	Camphor laurel
Regional dialect	Wu: Suzhou dialect
License plate prefix	苏E and 苏U[4]
Website	www.suzhou.gov.cn

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Quick Facts Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese ...

Suzhou
"Suzhou" in Simplified (top) and Traditional (bottom) Chinese characters
Simplified Chinese	苏州
Traditional Chinese	蘇州
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Sūzhōu Wade–Giles Su1-chou1 IPA [sú.ʈʂóʊ] Wu Suzhounese Sou-tseü Hakka Romanization Sû-chû Yue: Cantonese Yale Romanization Sōujāu Jyutping Sou1-zau1 IPA [sɔw˥.tsɐw˥] Southern Min Hokkien POJ Soo-ciŭ

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Founded in 514 BC, Suzhou rapidly grew in size by the Eastern Han dynasty, mostly due to emigration from northern China.^[6] From the 10th century onwards, it has been an important economic, cultural, and commercial center,^[7] as well as the largest non-capital city in the world, until it was overtaken by Shanghai.^[8][9] Since economic reforms began in 1978, Suzhou attained GDP growth rates of about 14% in 35 years.^[10][11] In 2023, Suzhou had 5 million registered residents.^[12] Suzhou is listed as the 48th cities by scientific output according to the Nature Index 2022.^[13] The city is home to universities, including Soochow University, Suzhou University of Science and Technology, Xi'an Jiaotong–Liverpool University, and Changshu Institute of Technology.^[14][15]

The city's tourist attractions include canals, stone bridges, pagodas, and gardens. The Classical Gardens of Suzhou were added to the list of the UNESCO World Heritage Sites in 1997 and 2000.^[16][17][18]

During the Zhou dynasty, a settlement known as Gusu after nearby Mount Gusu (Chinese: 姑苏山; pinyin: Gūsūshān) became the capital of the state of Wu. From this role, it also came to be called Wu as well. In 514 BC, King Helü of Wu established a new capital nearby at Helü City and this grew into the modern city. During the Warring States period, Helü City continued to serve as the local seat of government. From the areas it administered, it became known as Wuxian (lit. "Wu County") and Wujun ("Wu Commandery").^[19] Under the Qin, it was known as Kuaiji after its greatly enlarged commandery, which was named for the reputed resting place of Yu the Great near modern Shaoxing in Zhejiang.

The name "Suzhou" was first officially used for the city in AD 589 during the Sui dynasty. Su (蘇 or 苏) in its name is a contraction of the old name Gusu. It refers to "Satisfied place" in the Old Yue language. The zhou 州 originally meant something like a province or county (cf. Guizhou), but often came to be used metonymously for the capital of such a region (cf. Guangzhou, Hangzhou, etc.).^[20] Suzhou is the Hanyu Pinyin spelling of the Putonghua pronunciation of the name. Prior to the adoption of pinyin, it was variously romanized as Soo-chow, Suchow, or Su-chow.^[21][22]

Suzhou, the cradle of Wu culture,^[23][24] is one of the oldest towns in the Yangtze Basin. By the Spring and Autumn period of the Zhou, local Baiyue tribes named the Gou Wu are recorded living in the area which would become the modern city of Suzhou. These tribes formed villages on the edges of the hills above the wetlands surrounding Lake Tai.

Sima Qian's Records of the Grand Historian records traditional accounts that the Zhou lord Taibo established the state of Wu at nearby Wuxi during the 11th century BC, civilizing the local people and improving their agriculture and mastery of irrigation. The Wu court later moved to Gusu within the area of modern Suzhou. In 514 BC,^[25] King Helü of Wu relocated his court nearby and called the settlement Helü City after himself. His minister Wu Zixu was closely involved with its planning and it was this site that grew into present-day Suzhou. The height of his tower on Gusu Hill (Gusutai) passed into Chinese legend. In 496 BC, King Helü was buried at Tiger Hill. In 473 BC, Wu was defeated and annexed by Yue, a kingdom to its southeast; Yue was annexed in turn by Chu in 306 BC. Remnants of the ancient kingdom include pieces of its 2,500-year-old city wall and the gate through it at Pan Gate.

The city was originally laid out according to a symbolic three-by-three grid of nine squares, with the royal palace occupying the central position.^[26]

During the Warring States period, Suzhou was the seat of Wu County (吳縣, Wú xiàn) and Commandery (吳郡, Wú jùn). Following the Qin Empire's conquest of the area in 222 BC, it was made the capital of Kuaiji Commandery, including lands stretching from the south bank of the Yangtze to the unconquered interior of Minyue in southern Zhejiang. Amid the collapse of the Qin, Kuaiji's governor Yin Tong attempted to organize his own rebellion only to be betrayed and executed by Xiang Liang and his nephew Xiang Yu, who launched their own rebellion from the city.

When the Grand Canal was completed, Suzhou found itself strategically located on a major trade route.^[21] Suzhou served as the regional metropolis of industry and foreign commerce on the southeastern coast of China. During the Tang dynasty, the great poet Bai Juyi constructed the Shantang Canal (better known as "Shantang Street") to connect the city with Tiger Hill for tourists. In AD 1035, the Suzhou Confucian Temple was founded by famed poet and writer Fan Zhongyan. It became a venue for the imperial civil examinations and then developed into the modern Suzhou High School in the 1910s.

After February 1130, riots and unrest disrupted Suzhou.^[27] In 1356, Suzhou became the capital of Zhang Shicheng, King of Wu. In 1367, Zhang's rival Zhu Yuanzhang took the city after a 10-month siege. Zhu – who was soon to proclaim himself the first emperor of the Ming dynasty – demolished the old city walls at the center of Suzhou's walled city and imposed crushing taxes on the city and prefecture's powerful families.^[28] Despite the heavy taxation and the forced exile of some prominent citizens' south, Suzhou was soon prosperous again. During the early Ming, Suzhou Prefecture supervised the Yangtze shoals which later became Shanghai's Chongming Island.^[29] For centuries the city, with its surroundings as an economic base, represented an extraordinary source of tax revenue.^[30]

When the shipwrecked Korean official Choe Bu had a chance to see much of Eastern China from Zhejiang to Liaoning on his way home in 1488, he described Suzhou in his travel report as exceeding every other city.^[31] Under the Ming, Suzhou was a prosperous center of the Nanzhili area controlled by the secondary capital at Nanjing; scholar-officials constructed the area's most famous private gardens during this period in a "Jiangnan style" copied at the time by Shanghai's Yu Garden and later by parts of the empress dowager Cixi's Summer Palace.

After the Qing occupied the area in 1644 and 1645, it was reorganized as Jiangnan Province, whose "Right" Governor controlled its eastern prefectures from Suzhou until the division of Jiangnan into the separate provinces of Jiangsu and Anhui at some point during the reign of the Qianlong Emperor. The Taipings captured the city in 1860. Many of its former buildings and gardens were "almost... a heap of ruins"^[21] by the time of their recovery by Charles Gordon's Ever-Victorious Army in November 1863.^[22] Nonetheless, by 1880, its population was estimated to have recovered to about 500,000,^[21] which remained stable for the next few decades.^[22] In the late 19th century, the town was particularly known for its wide range of silks and its Chinese-language publishing industry.^[21] The town was first opened to direct foreign trades by the Treaty of Shimonoseki ending the First Sino-Japanese War^[22] and by the most favored nation clauses of earlier unequal treaties with the Great Powers. The new expatriates opened a European-and-Chinese school in 1900 and the Suzhou railway station, connecting it with Shanghai, opened^[22] on 16 July 1906. Just prior to World War I, there were 7000 silk looms in operation, as well as a cotton mill and a large trade in rice.^[22]

Excerpt from Prosperous Suzhou by Xu Yang

As late as the early 20th century, much of the city consisted of islands connected by rivers, creeks, and canals to the surrounding countryside.^[22] Prior to their demolition, the city walls ran in a circuit of about 10 miles (16 km) with four large suburbs lying outside.^[22] The Japanese invaded in 1937, and many gardens were again devastated by the end of the war. In the early 1950s, restoration was done on the Humble Administrator's Garden and the Lingering Garden.

The urban core of Suzhou, Gusu District, is informally called the "Old Town." Suzhou Industrial Park is to the east of the old town, and Suzhou High & New Technology Development Zone is to the west. In 2000, the original Wu County was divided into two districts, Xiangcheng and Wuzhong. They now form the northern and southern parts of the city of Suzhou. In 2012, the original Wujiang City became Wujiang District of Suzhou City.

Suzhou is one of the most prosperous cities in China. Its development has a direct correlation with the growth of its satellite cities, including Kunshan, Taicang, Changshu, and Zhangjiagang, which together with the city of Suzhou form the Suzhou prefecture. The Suzhou prefecture is home to many high-tech enterprises.

More information Map, Subdivision ...

Map
Huqiu Wuzhong Xiangcheng Gusu Wujiang Changshu (city) Zhangjiagang (city) Kunshan (city) Taicang (city) Suzhou Industrial Park Lake Tai
Subdivision	Simplified Chinese	Hanyu Pinyin	Population (2020)[32]	Area (km2)	Density (/km2)
City Proper
Gusu District	姑苏区	Gūsū Qū	2,058,010	372	5,532.28
Suburban
Huqiu District	虎丘区	Hǔqiū Qū	832,499	258	3,226.74
Wuzhong District	吴中区	Wúzhōng Qū	1,388,972	672	2,066.92
Xiangcheng District	相城区	Xiāngchéng Qū	891,055	416	2,141.95
Wujiang District	吴江区	Wújiāng Qū	1,545,023	1,093	1,413.56
Satellite cities (County-level cities)
Changshu City	常熟市	Chángshú Shì	1,677,050	1,094	1,532.95
Taicang City	太仓市	Tàicāng Shì	831,113	620	1,340.50
Kunshan City	昆山市	Kūnshān Shì	2,092,496	865	2,419.07
Zhangjiagang City	张家港市	Zhāngjiāgǎng Shì	1,432,044	772	1,854.97
Total			12,748,252	8,488	1,501.84
Not formal administrative subdivisions – Suzhou Industrial Park & Suzhou New District Defunct districts – Canglang District, Pingjiang District, & Jinchang District

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Suzhou is on the Lake Tai Plain south of the Yangtze River, about 100 km (60 mi) to the west of Shanghai and just over 200 km (120 mi) east of Nanjing.

• 
  Lingering Garden
• 
  Couple's Retreat Garden
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  Changmen at night
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  Xuanmiao Temple
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  The Humble Administrator's Garden
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  Lion Grove Garden
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  An entrance to the Youyicun Garden
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  Beisi Pagoda
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  Ruiguang Pagoda

Canals and Historic Districts

Main articles: Pingjiang Road and Shantang Street

The Suzhou section of the Jiangnan Canal, Grand Canal (China), includes ten city gates and over 20 stone bridges of traditional design and historic areas that have been well preserved, as well as temples and pavilions. ^{[42][43] [44]} There are a full 24 waterways in Suzhou near the Grand Canal.^[45]

In 2015, both 800-year-old Pingjiang Road Historical Block (平江路) and 1,200-year-old Shantang Street Scenic Area (山塘街) were added to the list of China's "National Historic and Cultural Streets".^[46][47]

Pingjiang Road runs parallel to the Pingjiang River for 1.5 kilometers and is lined with homes and some teahouses. Shantang Street, over twice as long at 3.8 km, is described by the BBC as retaining "the alluring qualities of an old canal-side street: whitewashed buildings are completed by red-tasseled lanterns that swing softly in the breeze, adding to the charm of the river bank".^[45]

Boat tours are offered on the waterways of this city that was dubbed the "Venice of the East" by Marco Polo because of its criss-crossing canals and stone bridges.^[48][49] The Grand Canal (from Beijing to Zhejiang province) is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Pan Gate

Pan Gate is on the southwest corner of the Main Canal or encircling canal of Suzhou. Originally built during the Warring States period in the state of Wu, historians estimate it to be around 2,500 years old. It is now part of the Pan Gate Scenic Area. It is known for the "three landmarks of Pan Gate". They are the Ruiguang Pagoda, the earliest pagoda in Suzhou built in 247 BC, the Wu Gate Bridge, the entrance to the gate at that time over the water passage and the highest bridge in Suzhou at the time, and the Pan Gate. The Ruigang Pagoda is constructed of brick with wooden platforms and has Buddhist carvings at its base.

Museums

The city's major museums include the Suzhou Museum (designed by I. M. Pei), Suzhou Silk Museum, and the China Kunqu Museum.

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The population of Suzhou is predominantly Han Chinese. The official language of broadcast, instruction, etc. is Mandarin Chinese, although many speak a local dialect known as Suzhounese, a member of the Wu language family. In addition to American and European expatriates, there is a large Korean community in Suzhou. The Industrial Bank of Korea (IBK) estimated that there were 15,000 Koreans in the municipality in 2014. That year 850 Korean companies operated in Suzhou, and the Koreans made up the largest number of students at the Suzhou Singapore International School.^[57]

Suzhou's economy is based primarily on its large manufacturing sector—China's first largest(from 2020)—including iron and steel, IT and electronic equipment, and textile products. The city's service sector is notably well-developed, primarily owing to tourism, which brought in a total of RMB 152 billion of revenue in 2013. Suzhou's overall GDP exceeded RMB 1.3 trillion in 2013 (up 9.6 percent from the year previous).^[59]

The city is also one of China's foremost destinations for foreign investment, based on its relative proximity to Shanghai and comparatively low operating costs. The municipal government has enacted various measures to encourage FDI in a number of manufacturing (e.g. pharmaceutical, electronic goods, automobile) and service (e.g. banking, logistics, research services) sectors. Included among these measures is a preferential tax policy for limited partnership venture capital enterprises in the Suzhou Industrial Park.^[59]

Suzhou is a highly developed economic region in China and is the economic centre, industrial, commercial and logistical hub city of Jiangsu province, as well as an important financial, cultural, artistic, educational and transportation centre.

Agriculture

In 2013, total grain production reached 1,311,200 tonnes, a decrease of 2.9%. Grain supply was effectively guaranteed through the vigorous construction of commodity grain production bases, wholesale grain markets and reserve systems.^[60]

Traditional handicrafts

Suzhou has a long history of reeling silkworms and has always been an important base for silk production in China. Since the Song and Yuan dynasties, Suzhou has been one of the centres of silk weaving and dyeing in the country, and in the Ming dynasty, Suzhou silk was praised as the "clothing of the world".^[61]

Development zones

Suzhou Industrial Park

Main article: Suzhou Industrial Park

The Suzhou Industrial Park (SIP) is the largest cooperative project between the Chinese and the Singaporean government. It is beside Jinji Lake, which lies to the east of the Suzhou Old City. On 26 February 1994, Vice Premier Li Lanqing and Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew, representing China and Singapore respectively, signed an agreement to jointly develop Suzhou Industrial Park (originally called the Singapore Industrial Park). The project officially commenced on 12 May in the same year. SIP has a jurisdiction area of 288 km² (111 sq mi), of which, the China-Singapore cooperation area covers 80 km² (31 sq mi) with a planned residential population of 1.2 million.^[62]

SIP is home to the Suzhou Dushu Lake Science and Education Innovation District, an area of universities and higher education institutions, including Soochow University and Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University. Suzhou Industrial Park is also a popular residential district for many foreigners who work and live in Suzhou, as well as 'new Suzhou' residents who migrate to the area in search of work opportunities.

Suzhou Industrial Park Export Processing Zone

The Suzhou Industrial Park Export Processing Zone was approved to be established by the government in April 2000, with a planning area of 2.9 km² (1.1 sq mi). It is in Suzhou Industrial Park set up by China and Singapore. Inside the Export Processing Zone, all the infrastructures are of high standard.^[63]

Suzhou New District

Main article: Suzhou New District

The Suzhou New District was established in 1990. In November 1992, the zone was approved to be the national-level hi-tech industrial zone. By the end of 2007, foreign-invested companies had a registered capital worth of US$13 billion, of which US$6.8 billion was paid in. SND hosts now more than 1,500 foreign companies. Some 40 Fortune 500 companies set up 67 projects in the district.^[64]

The Suzhou Dongwu currently play in China League One, the second highest level of Chinese professional football competition. The 13,000 seat Suzhou Industrial Park Sports Arena was one of the venues for the 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup.^[65]

• Opera: Kunqu originated in the Suzhou region, as does the much later Suzhou Opera. Ballad-singing, or Suzhou pingtan, is a local form of storytelling that mixes singing (accompanied by the pipa and sanxian) with portions in spoken dialect.
• Silk: throughout China's Imperial past, Suzhou silk has been associated with high-quality silk products, supplying silks to ancient royal families. By the 13th century, Suzhou was already the center of the profitable silk trade.
• Song brocade: Suzhou Song-style brocade is one of China's three famous brocades, together with Nanjing Yun brocade and Sichuan Shu brocade.^[70] This Song-style brocade, made of silk, has a thin yet strong material with flashy colors, exquisite patterns, and soft texture.^[71] Suzhou's brocade production can be traced back to the Five Dynasties. It prospered in the Song dynasty. After the government moved the capital southward, the country's political and cultural center moved to the Yangtze River area.
• Cuisine: Suzhou cuisine (苏帮菜), which is part of Jiangsu cuisine, including Yangcheng Lake large crab, Squirrel fish, etc.^[72]
• Handicrafts: Suzhou embroidery, fans, Chinese 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
• Suzhou Silk Hand Embroidery Art
• Suzhou is the original place of "Jasmine", a song sung by Chinese singers or actresses thousands of times on the occasions of almost every important meetings or celebrations. Jasmine is the symbol of Suzhou as well as Tai Hu Lake.
• Suzhou Gardens: Gardens in Suzhou have an ancient history. The first garden in Suzhou belonged to the emperor of Wu State in Spring and Autumn period (600 BC). More than 200 gardens existed in Suzhou between the 16th and 18th centuries. Gardens in Suzhou were built according to the style of Chinese Paintings. Every view in a garden can be seen as a piece of Chinese Painting and the whole garden is a huge piece of Chinese Paintings. At present, the Humble Administrator's Garden, built in 16th, is the largest private garden in Suzhou. It belonged to by Wang Xianchen, an imperial censor. ^{[citation needed]}
• Suzhou embroidery together with embroidery of Hunan, Sichuan and Guangdong are called as the "Four Famous Embroideries". Suzhou tapestry method is done in fine silks and gold thread. Other art forms found in this area are sculpture, Song brocade, jade and rosewood carving. Suzhou embroidery, acknowledged as a cultural heritage, has involved many cultural practitioners in advancing technology and skills with ICH-resources to better engage in economic pursuits.^[73]
• The Suzhou Museum has a rich collection of relics from many eras. The collection includes revolutionary records, stele carving, folk customs, drama and verse, Suzhou embroidery, silk cloth, gardens, coins and Buddhist artifacts.^[74]
• Wedding gowns^[75]

Lu Xun (陆逊) (183–245) military general and politician of the state of Eastern Wu during the Three Kingdoms era, most famous for his defeat of Liu Bei in the Battle of Xiaoting.

Feng Menglong (冯梦龙) (1574–1645) famous vernacular writer and poet of the late Ming dynasty.

Tang Yin (唐寅) (1470–1524) one of the most renowned painter in China history, calligrapher, and poet of the Ming dynasty, better known by his courtesy name Tang Bohu (Chinese: 唐伯虎)^[76]

Wen Zhengming (文徵明) (1470–1559) Painter and poet of the Ming dynasty, the founder of Wu School (Chinese: 吴门画派), one of Four Masters of the Ming Dynasty

Weng Tonghe (翁同龢) (1830–1904) Chinese Confucian scholar and imperial tutor of the Tongzhi and Guangxu emperors in the late Qing dynasty, who is one of the most obdurate old guard defending the traditional Confucianism practices while being stubbornly against reform efforts to westernise the country.^[77]

I. M. Pei (贝聿铭) (1917–2019) One of the best architects in China history, being recognised as the 'last master of high modernist architecture',^[78] famous for his design of Louvre Pyramid, Hong Kong Bank of China tower, Singapore OCBC Centre, East Building of National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., Germany Historical Museum, etc.^[79]

Cheng Kaijia (程开甲) (1918–2018) A nuclear physicist and engineer. One of the key figure in China's nuclear weapons development and a founding father of the Two Bombs, One Satellite project.

Tsung-Dao Lee (李政道) (1926–2024) Physicist, who won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1957 at the age of 30, for his work on the violation of the parity law in weak interactions.^[80]

Meng Jianzhu (孟建柱) (1947–) Politician, former member of the Politburo and Secretary of the Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission

• List of twin towns and sister cities in China
• Port of Suzhou