Me & City (Suzhou, China)

Today is Winter Solstice Eve, also known as Midwinter Eve!  First let me tell you in short, it’s a big day for Suzhou natives!

Winter Solstice, one of the 24 solar terms in the lunar Calendar and usually falls in the fourth week(around the 22nd) of December in the Gregorian Calendar. It is the day of the year with the fewest hours of daylight.

The custom of  celebrating Winter Solstice Day by Suzhou natives dates back more than 2000 years ago，when the Kingdom of Wu adopted the Calendar of the Zhou Dynasty from which Winter Solstice is recognized as the first day of new year. So there is an old local saying in Suzhou  that “Natives celebrate Winter Solstice Day as big as New Year’s!”.

Just as in Christmas, the most important moment is the eve of the festival—Winter Solstice Eve.  A sumptuous dinner is usually well prepared to have a wonderful family reunion on the eve . Among all the elements of the fancy meal is Dong Niang Wine (冬酿酒), literally translated as Wine Brewed in Winter. It’s a rice brewed wine prepared about two months before the Midwinter Day made up with glutinous rice, sweet osmanthus and water is a must.

In Suzhou, Dong Niang Wine is a special seasonal wine, tastes  light and naturally sweet only made for the Winter Solstice. As the holiday approa ches , you can find the wine easily in many markets,  from big supermarkets to little grocery  stores. Besides, some Suzhou time-honored brand shops supply Dong Niang Wine brewed on their own every year as a tradition, such as Yuan Da Chang.  Most older natives prefer to wait in line for the wine brewed by these old shops,  maybe because the wine has accompanied them since their childhood!

Just as everybody know “When you in Rome, do as the Romans do”, I’d like to say when you in Suzhou, especially if you spend the Winter Solstice Day here, drink the Dong Niang Wine as the Suzhounese do! Cheers!

Xishan, with an area of 79.8 square kilometers, is the biggest island in Tai Lake, which is connected with Suzhou city by Tai Lake Bridge.

Tangli town, which is located in the east part of Xishan island is a town famous for old dwellings. Xishan Woodcarving Building, also known as Renben  Hall, is the most notable one constructed in A.D. 1855.   Renben Hall covering about 2000 square meters is a serial of buildings built with carved wood; especially delicate carving skills are expressed by the exquisite doors and windows.

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Enjoy the wood carving art!

The Master of the Nets Garden, which belongs to the World Culture Heritage List by UNESCO,  is one of the four most famous gardens in Suzhou.  MNG is a very typical Suzhou style garden, which is also a representing work of the pocket- sized classical garden in the  southern areas of the lower reaches of the Yangze River.

The garden was first built in Southern Song dynasty, AD 1174, owned by SHI Zhenzhi, a government officer who residing in Suzhou after his retirement.  SHI named it as “The fisherman’s Retreat”, from which his willing to return to pastoral is expressed definitely.

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The garden was re-built in Qing dynasty, around AD1765 and was re-named as the one of today. During the past long time history, MNG was handed over from one owner to another. Until  1950, the offspring of HE Yanong, the latest host  of the garden donated it to the public. After a fully re-construction taken in 1958 by Suzhou Garden Bureau,  the garden opened to public officially.

As I mentioned MNG is a pocket-sized garden, she do illustrate how less than more.  The center of the garden is a pond with pathways and pavilions surrounding. Different buildings, decorated with trees, flowers and rockeries, are perfectly spaced to realize unlimited vision effect in  limited space, scenes beyond scenes.

Enjoy the pictures I took in the Master of the Nets Garden with me or visit the official site of MNG for more info!

I was waken up by osmathus fragrance this morning. Was the season already over? I wandered. It’s raining outside. What a day! As I went downstairs the sweet fragrance got stronger. I knew where it came from as I approach to the kitchen.
“Morning, want some tangyuan”( very traditional suzhou food, made of sticky rice powder) my mom turned over with a warm smile on her face.
“So you used your secret weapon, is this the last year sweet osmathus sauce” I asked.
“No. I made it last month, it’s fresh new one.
“I am so gonna screw up my diet plan” I murmured. Well I have to do it next time.

You can easily find sweet osmathus sauce at traditional sweetmeat shop like the Cai Zhi Zhai and the Ye Shou He confectionery shops any season. It’s been widerly used in traditional dessert and beverage. I especially like to add into plum juice. It’s not easy to find accurate words to describe the taste, but only imaging the mouthful of flower fragrance after sipping it.

I have to be honest there’s no high mountain in Suzhou.  However, if you would like to enjoy some hiking and climbing, Tianping Hill is the one you can’t miss though it is only 201 meters above the sea level.

Tianping hill locates in the southwest part of Suzou, which is named “No. 1 hill in the Central Wu”(Wu is the ancient name of Suzhou and around Suzhou).  What’s the most attraction of Tianping Hill is the colorful maple trees spreading over the foot of the hill.  Tianping Hill is regarded as one of the four best places for enjoying the red maples in fall, sharing the same popularity with the Xiang Hill in Beijing, Xixia Hill in Nanjing and Qiulu Hill in Hunan.

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I have a hint for you that according to my experience the second and the third weeks of Nov are the best period to enjoy red maples. During that time, the colors of the maples are most colorful, with the different levels of green to red to yellow.  The magic of nature!

Enjoy some pictures I took in the previous falls.

The Red Maple Festival this year is from 24th Oct to 6th Dec, and the admission is RMB 18.  Bus 315, 37  have stops at Tianping Hill.

I always feel I have too much words for my hometown. That’s what I’m doing:)  But I guess some of  you must want one line, maybe no more than 140 words like twitter  to figure out a general concept for this city first.  Let me try to find one for you, though it really challenges me, haa.

Okay, may be this one. Suzhou is a city where you will be amazed to feel the different levels of time and development happening simultaneously, both old and new,  peace and vitality,  ancient and contemporary all at once.

If you find a little bit lack of imagination upon above words, maybe you would like to read something more tangible in my previous post Suzhou at a glance including the basic statistics,  geographical location and culture & history for a vivid image of Suzhou.

I also want to hear what’s in your mind on Suzhou?  Leave your message here if you have one sentence for Suzhou:)