July 12, 2011
Sonnie and I decided to go into Suzhou and take in some of the cultural sights! Sonnie spent the morning planning our possibilities for the afternoon exploration.
Alex and Pat arranged for a private driver to drop us off in the southern part of Suzhou. This was a treat, as you know that I always take the public bus!
The driver dropped us off at the Panmen Scenic Area.
Panmen Scenic Area
Lying to the southwest of Suzhou, Jiangsu Province, the Panmen Scenic Area was built on the base of some historic sites by using the architectural structure of classical gardens. It is famous for its numerous historic relics and beautiful landscapes and buildings. It has been listed as the National AAAA Tourist Area. Panmen Scenic Area has become a tourist resort showing the unique historic and cultural features of Suzhou. The scenic area consists of many scenic spots. Among them, Ruiguang Pagoda, Panmen City Gate and Wumen Bridge are praised as the “three fine sceneries”.
Along with the “three fine sceneries”, there are many sights to visit in the Panmen Scenic Area … including Premier Wu Zixu's Memorial Temple, Century Bell of Tang, Double-Pavilion Corridor Bridge, and Hall of Sirui. You can also enjoy Chinese traditional activities like bell tolling, and acrobatics.
We paid our entrance fees and we were ready to explore ...
Ruiguang Pagoda (Auspicious Light Pagoda)
Standing at the entrance of the scenic area, Ruiguang Pagoda, is the oldest pagoda in Suzhou. It is as high as 53.57 meters (175.6 feet) and was built as a masonry-timber structure with eight sides and seven floors. It is said that the pagoda was built by Sun Quan … a famous king who established the Wu Kingdom in Three Kingdoms Period (220-280) … in 247 to show his respect to his mother. Unfortunately, in the next thousand years, the pagoda was damaged badly in the wars, leaving only the brick body. In 1978, a little pagoda with Sheli (Buddhist shrine) was found on the third floor of Ruiguang Pagoda, as well as some other cultural relics including Miaofalianhua Scripture written on green paper and bronze Buddhist Statue.
After visiting the pagoda, we wandered through the grounds of the Panmen Scenic Area.
We came up to the old city wall and climbed up the steps to see the Panmen City Gate.
Panmen City Gate
As the center of the scenic area, the Panmen City Gate was first built during the Wu Kingdom of Spring and Autumn Period (770BC-476BC) and it is the only well preserved water-and-land city gate in the world now. It consists of the land city gate, the water city gate, the city gate tower, the Weng City and the city wall on both sides. It was a place with utmost importance for the army in ancient times. The double water city gate is a pioneering work in architectural history. There is a sluice on the gate which can be closed and open by a stone gate at any time to control the water as well as resist aggression. There is a city tower on top of the gate. It was damaged many times in wars and the current Panmen City Gate Tower was built in 1986 to commemorate the 2,500-year-anniversary of the establishment of Suzhou. There are many ancient weapons on display on the first floor of the tower. The city wall is 300 meters long and 5 meters high. Walking along the slope on the north of the city wall, you can see the whole arrangement of Panmen City Gate.
Wumen Bridge
Not far from Panmen City Gate, visitors can see Wumen Bridge. It was built in 1084 and is the highest ancient bridge in Suzhou now. The bridge is 11 meters (36 feet) high and 66.3 meters (217.5 feet) long. It was originally made up of three bridges and has been repaired many times in history. In the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), it was rebuilt into a single arched stone bridge. There are 50 steps on both sides of the bridge. Standing on the bridge, you can see the boats coming and going on the river and the Ruiguang Pagoda and beautiful scenery in the distance.
We decided to walk along the top of the city wall for as far as we could ... it went on and on ... there was no one in sight!
we finally found a way to get back down to the scenic area ...
looking back up ...
this picture give some size perspective
detail of the city wall
Sonnie and I had seen this temple area from the top of the city wall ...
Memorial Temple of Wu Zixu
Grand master Wu Zixu was a senior official of the Wu Kingdom in the Spring and Autumn Period. He was the second son of a senior minister in the Chu Kingdom, Wu She.
In the seventh year of the reign of King Ping Wang of the Chu (522 BC), Wu She was murdered by the Chu king. So the son, Wu Zixu, headed for the Wu kingdom and the refuge of Helu, whom he helped to assasinate the Wu king Liao, so paving the way for Helu to become the monarch. In 514 BC, Wu Zixu was at King Helu's side as they built the great city of Helu (present day Suzhou). He then managed the army, administrative matters and national security.
In gratitude, the king granted him the territory of Shen, so Wu became Shen Xu. But over time, the king and his erstwhile loyal servant grew apart. Wu tried to persuade Helu not to attack the Qi kingdom, and to avoid peace with the Yue. Eventually Wu was required, as an act of great loyalty, to commit suicide with a ceremonial sword. Almost immediately, the king regretted his foolishness, albeit a little bit too late, and built a temple for Wu Zixu at a place by the river at the Panmen Gate.
Sadly, over the centuries, the temple disappeared and the structure standing today was constructed in 1988.
we continued walking through the scenic area ...
Sonnie was determined to have me ring the Century Bell of Tang!
here goes!
very pleased with my bell ringing experience!
After leaving the Panmen Scenic Area, we walked along some of the local streets browsing in the shops of the "dish mart" area, as well as the many tea shops on an adjacent street.
Our next stop was the Confucius Temple ... an amazing place!!
Confucius Temple 苏州文庙 Da Cheng Men
Located along a southern section of Renmin Road, the unobtrusive and outwardly unmarked Confucian Temple lies quietly behind high walls that hide it from casual public view. Tens of thousands of people pass by every day on buses, electric bicycles and pedal bikes, on foot and in cars and taxis and buses, yet few are likely aware of the rich and integral role the Confucius Temple played in Suzhou’s long history. It would not be an exaggeration to say that this site was long the most cherished of any in the city, both a symbolic and an actual font of Suzhou’s intellectual and cultural success for many centuries.
The temple’s construction dates to 1035, nearly one thousand years ago. At that time, the famed Suzhou Magistrate Fan Zhongyan had purchased a large parcel of land upon which he planned to build the family home. Before beginning that effort, however, legend has it that he consulted with a geomancer or fengshui specialist, or perhaps both. He was advised that the land possessed superior fengshui, so much so that any family who resided there would enjoy academic success in the imperial examinations for countless generations to come. Being civic-minded to an almost unimaginable degree, Fan reasoned that such good fortune was better directed to the community at large than limited just to his own family. “What could be better than using my own family’s good fortune so that all the scholars of Wu [Suzhou] may enjoy benefits without end?” he argued, according to a late-seventeenth-century description.
Thus arose not only the Prefectural Confucian Temple but also a fuxue, a school dedicated to the study of Confucian classics with the goal of preparing students for the triennial imperial examinations. It was through this series of local, regional, and ultimately national examinations that the country’s best scholars came to the Emperor’s attention in Beijing and earned prized government administrative positions. Throughout the Ming and Qing dynasties, stretching over a period of four hundred years, no city or area of China had more success or gained more renown in the imperial examination system than did Suzhou. Much if not most of this success was attributed to the Confucian Temple and its fuxue. Suzhou people saw the present-day Renmin Lu (People’s Road) as a beneficent dragon, as indicated by the street’s previous name, Protective Dragon Street (Hulong Jie). The Confucian Temple and fuxue were the dragon’s head, its brains as it were.
Left in hopeless ruins by the devastation of the Taiping Rebellion in the early 1860s, the temple’s subsequent restoration was given high priority by government officials, particularly the central hall, the Pavilion of Great Achievement. Today, visitors are greeted by a statue of Confucius (Kong Zi) standing inside the grounds and just before the Pavilion of Great Achievement. Ancient trees and stone sculptures dot the surrounding grounds, and a remarkable collection of engraved steles can be viewed along the wall of a covered corridor. A separate, hardly noticeable room in the temple’s southwestern corner, just inside and to the left of the main entrance, contains four museum-quality steles of significant historical value. The most famous of these is the original Pingjiang Map engraving, showing a bird’s-eye view of the moat-encircled city in 1279. Massive in size and impressive in detail, viewers today can hardly help but notice how little the city’s layout has changed in the past seven-plus centuries.
As if to prove the ongoing accuracy of that geomancer’s prediction in 1035, the attached fuxue evolved into Suzhou #9 School (now renamed as Suzhou High School), the city’s premier secondary school and arguably the best in all of Jiangsu Province. A peek from Renmin Lu through the school gate reveals a statue of Fan Zhangyan standing right in front, welcoming inside those high-achieving students every day.
Just south of the Confucian Temple entrance is a small park containing a statue of Confucius offering instruction to three listeners. Almost directly across the street from the Temple, down a small lane running alongside a pond, one can find the entrance to Cang Lang Ting, the Surging Waves Pavilion. It is the oldest Suzhou garden extant in the city. Head north on Renmin Road and you will see another small park, this one containing the sculpture of a seated figure with an inscribed book open before him. This site commemorates the singular achievements of Qian Qi, a Suzhou native who in 1781 became a sanyuan, or triple winner, by finishing first in the national civil service examinations at the provincial and national levels as well as in the final examination before Emperor Qianlong. Such a feat had not been seen for 336 years. It was considered so remarkable that even the Emperor composed poems to celebrate the event.
Slightly further north lies the stylishly modern Suzhou Library; it is no coincidence that the city's central library stands in such close proximity to the Confucian Temple complex.
wooden schematic of the temple area
Confucious as the Great Teacher
entranceway in front of Dacheng Hall, the Hall of Great Achievement
incense burner of offerings for the Great Teacher
there is something about turtles :-)
A great deal of mythology exists in regard to the turtle. In China, the shell was a symbol of heaven, and the square underside was a symbol of earth. The turtle was an animal whose magic united heaven and earth. The turtle is a creation of nature that carries its round shell over the ground, like heaven, and has a flat bottom, like earth. With a profile resembling a mountain and the turning motion of its toes, it seemed to be a depiction of heaven and earth changing constantly through the seasons.
The turtle is one of the most sacred animals in China. The word “turtle” commonly covers both turtles (generally live in water) and tortoises (generally live on land). Being one of the animals that has endured longest on earth, the turtle is considered as a symbol of wisdom, strength, endurance, wealth and long life.
pictures of the Hall of Great Achievement ...
inside the Hall of Great Achievement ...
Confucious
temple bells
metal chimes, all in a row
more pictures from inside the Dacheng Hall ...
and more pictures ...
another turtle :-)
Confucius Temple Steles
The Confucius Temple houses a collection of 2100 pieces of inscribed stone dating back to the Song Dynasty. These stones are called steles, which is a small monolith with carved writings or low-relief sculpture on one face. Like many things in China, these particular examples are extraordinary.
Many of the steles are as important for their calligraphy as their content. The Chinese language is pictographic … its symbols are not just letters as English or Roman languages are. Like Egyptian hieroglyphics, they have an artistic element as well. Through the ages, many of these stones show variations in style that make them works of art in written language, as well as historical documents.
The number of Steles inside the Confucius Temple is only behind that of the Forest of Stone Steles Museum in Beijing, and is regarded as the “second stele forest in China”. Epitaphs, stories, scriptures and other forms of writing show that this collection of stone steles is more than just a collection of ancient lithographic oddities. It is a treasure trove of the history of a complex people and their culture down through the ages.
outdoor covered corridors of the stone stele museum
examples of ornately engraved steles
pictorial engraving along the corridor
Sonnie and I thoroughly enjoyed our visit to the Confucius Temple! It was an unexpected pleasure!
Our next stop up the road was the Canglang Pavillion garden ...
Canglang Pavillion Garden
Canglang Pavilion (Blue Wave Pavilion) is located in the southern part of Suzhou City, and is one of the four most famous gardens of the city. Canglang Pavilion is the oldest of the Suzhou gardens that can be traced back to the Northern Song Dynasty (906 - 1127). During that part of history, a scholar Su Shunqing was demoted and sent to Suzhou. He bought the garden and built the pavilion in a setting adjacent to water that was on the property that would enhance the beauty of the garden. The garden was then named Canglang Pavilion in honor of his namesake, Canglang Wong.
The uniqueness of Canglang Pavilion lies in the harmony between man made buildings and the natural environment. Covering an area of 10,656 square meters, the garden, carefully arranged around the rock formations and connected by a long roofed walkway, features a range of man made rock formations inside the garden and waterscapes outside. Proceeding past the pure expanse of water over a zigzag bridge of stone and through the entrance, one comes to the garden and catches sight of man made mountain covered with age-old trees and bamboo, running from east to west. The whole pavilion is rather elegant, like a graceful lady.
It is not construction skill that gives Canglang Pavilion its reputation, but its natural beauty. Here "natural" has two meanings. First, the builders tried their best to keep the original characteristics of the materials when building the garden. They added no unnecessary decorations to the building materials. Second, the workers and craftsmen made every effort to make the water and the rock formations integrated whole, just like natural scenery.
In the garden you will see incredible man made rock formations that are divided into two parts: on the eastern side, the earth has been mixed with natural yellow stones and built in such a manner that it resembles a natural hill, and on the western side, exquisite stones from the lake have been used to create another naturally appearing hill. Both of these rock formations have been planted with green trees and viridian bamboos that add to the beauty of the scene and create the sensation of walking in a primitive mountain forest.
There are also winding corridors with pavilions that link the hills and pools together. As you walk along these corridors that follows a path alongside the unique rock formations and strategically planted ancient trees, it seems as if you were walking in a primitive forest.
The architectures that have been built in the garden are simply and classically designed which present a Qing Dynasty (1644 - 1911) style.
Winding corridors throughout the garden link the scenic spots of the garden. On the walls of the corridor, there are 108 lattice windows of various designs through which you can enjoy the beauty of the pool outside and the hill in the center of the garden. The intricate patterns of the windows are interesting and enhance the beauty of the corridor.
Facing Water Veranda is a four-sided hall beside the water to the west of the corridor. When you are tired after long walk, you can sit and drink a cup of tea while enjoying the quiet and beautiful surroundings of the garden.
At the eastern end of the corridor, a square pavilion sits on a stone beside the pool. It is called Fishing Terrace which is a perfect place to sit and watch different varieties of fish swimming in the pool.
Crossing the corridor, you can climb up the man made rock formation along a gently winding path. Among a sea of green trees, a square antique Canglang Pavilion can be seen indistinctly. The beams of the pavilion are carved with intricate patterns of fairy children, flowers, birds, and animals. Its stone pillars display a parallel couplet from a Song poet on its stone pillars reading : "The refreshing breeze and the bright moon are priceless, the nearby water and the distant mountains strike a sentimental note." From inside the pavilion, you can see the beauty of the entire garden.
Mingdao Hall is the main building in the garden. In the hall are three rooms that were once used as a place for ancient scholars to study. Inside the hall, there are also rubbings of three stone tablets including the Astronomic Picture, Geographic Picture and Pingjiang Prefecture Picture which are the priceless treasures of Suzhou. In a setting of age old trees, the hall looks very solemn and venerable.
Fragrance House is to the west of the Mingdao Hall. When autumn comes, the house is filled with the delicate fragrance of the sweet-scented osmanthus that grows within the grounds of the garden. While sitting in Fragrance House, it is easy to enjoy both the beauty of the green rock formations and blue pools as well as the faint scent of osmanthus that adds to the joy and comfort of the scene.
Five-Hundred Famous Ancient Sages Hall is also an important building in the garden. The stone statues of 594 ancient sages of Suzhou are encased in the walls of the hall and form a large art gallery. The hall adds cultural atmosphere to the natural beauty of the whole garden.
In the southern end of the garden, a two-story building called Mountain-Watching Building stands majestically in the garden. With its flying eaves and turned up corners, it is one of the most exquisite buildings in the garden. From inside this building, you can see the mountains around the garden as well as the beauty of the entire garden
the garden entrance
inside the garden ...
The Canglang Pavilion garden was beautiful and peaceful, and although we enjoyed this small classical garden, Sonnie and I decided that it did not live up to all the hype we had read about it.
We continued walking up Renmin until we came to ShiQuan Jie. Since there were no empty cabs to be found, I convinced Sonnie to take the public bus over to near the Crowne Plaza Hotel where we easily caught a cab home.
We began planning for our Suzhou adventure part 2 ... and decided that our upcoming day trip would be to the northern part of Suzhou!
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