After breakfast, you will drive about 1.5 hours from Shanghai to Suzhou City. Start today's trip with an interesting visit to Lingering Garden,
one of the Four Greatest Gardens in China as well as the perfect
representative of traditional Suzhou Gardens. The Lingering Garden has
synthesized almost all the classic features of Suzhou gardens. It is
composed of residential areas, shrines, family temple and garden, making
fully use of the changings between big and small, bend and straight,
bright and dark, tall and low, tight and disperse, with the surrounding
landscapes, such as trees, flowers, lake, sky, as backgrounds to create
an ingenious system of space. After visiting Lingering Garden, move on
to next site - Shantang Ancient Street, a wonderful
place for a relaxing walking or leisure cruise on canals. It used to be
an important trade and culture center during Ming and Qing Dynasties,
and now is famous as “the miniature of old Suzhou and the window of Wu
culture”. Enjoy the ornate water-town style architectures, marvel at the
bustling streets and savor at local snacks.
In the afternoon, you will go to explore the most historical site in Suzhou - Tiger Hill.
The hill is only 36 meters in height, but covers about 3.5 acres areas
with a number of historical sites some of which have history over 2,500
years. The most famous site is the Yunyan Pagoda which is an
over-1000-year-old pagoda with seven stories in height and famously
leans much the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Apart from the history, the Tiger
Hill is also an amazing place to go for a walk, enjoy natural scenery
and experience local custom. Next, transfer to Suzhou No.1 Silk Factory
where you could not only see how the silk is processed from worm to the
final product, but also learn some history and culture of silk in
China.
After all sightseeing, drive back to Shanghai.