ArtsAutosBooksBusinessEducationEntertainmentFamilyFashionFoodGamesGenderHealthHolidaysHomeHubPagesPersonal FinancePetsPoliticsReligionSportsTechnologyTravel

My impressions of China: Suzhou and Hangzhou

Updated on May 2, 2013

Suzhou Silk

Suzhou is well-known for beautiful girls (like Carina Lau the actress) and also for its silk products. On a tour to China, I visited Suzhou and saw the process of making silk. The end products are really good especially the silk blankets. Do you know that if you were to pull the silk cocoon from front till the end, it will probably be as long as 1600-1800 metres?

Besides silk, there are other attractions too such as the "Si Zhi Lin" (Lion Forest Garden) where you can pretend that you are in ancient China. The garden is named so because there are many stones in the garden which look similar to lions. There are also several mini caves in the garden and you can explore them too. In the past, the stones used to make this garden were even more expensive than gems. Thus, the person who built this garden, was a super billionaire during those times.

Suzhou is also considered to be the Venice of the East and it is possible to take a boat ride along the canals of Suzhou to glimpse the historical gates and the old city wall.

While in Suzhou, do look out for the colour of the buildings too. They are usually in black and white scheme as in a black roof and with white walls. This is reflective of the Taoism belief of yin and yang.

I spent about 2 days in Suzhou during my weeklong trip in China. If given the opportunity to visit again, I would say Yes immediately!


processed silk at the silk factory
processed silk at the silk factory
the finished product: silk blanket
the finished product: silk blanket

Heavenly Hangzhou

In Hangzhou, it is impossible to avoid West Lake (Xihu). It is so huge, and although the many tours are touristy it is still worth a trip. Before embarking on a cruise around West Lake, do spend some time at the West Lake Museum.

Besides the lake, Hangzhou is also famous for a staple drink in China: tea. I visited the Mei Jia Wu Tea Garden which is famous for producing the Longjing tea, which is a type of green tea. Here in Hangzhou, tea is a part of life as the people enjoy spending their leisure time at tea houses where they pay about 60renminbi for a free flow of tea and snacks.

Another unique thing that I learnt too was that in Hangzhou, people say "zhi cha" (eat tea) and not "he cha" (drink tea). This is because after drinking the tea, they do not throw away the tea leaves. Instead, it is eaten. isn't that interesting?

If you are more interested in history, then Beijing would make a great stop too. Find out more here.

Heavenly Hangzhou

beautiful Xihu (West Lake)
beautiful Xihu (West Lake)
working

This website uses cookies

As a user in the EEA, your approval is needed on a few things. To provide a better website experience, hubpages.com uses cookies (and other similar technologies) and may collect, process, and share personal data. Please choose which areas of our service you consent to our doing so.

For more information on managing or withdrawing consents and how we handle data, visit our Privacy Policy at: https://corp.maven.io/privacy-policy

Show Details
Necessary
HubPages Device IDThis is used to identify particular browsers or devices when the access the service, and is used for security reasons.
LoginThis is necessary to sign in to the HubPages Service.
Google RecaptchaThis is used to prevent bots and spam. (Privacy Policy)
AkismetThis is used to detect comment spam. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide data on traffic to our website, all personally identifyable data is anonymized. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Traffic PixelThis is used to collect data on traffic to articles and other pages on our site. Unless you are signed in to a HubPages account, all personally identifiable information is anonymized.
Amazon Web ServicesThis is a cloud services platform that we used to host our service. (Privacy Policy)
CloudflareThis is a cloud CDN service that we use to efficiently deliver files required for our service to operate such as javascript, cascading style sheets, images, and videos. (Privacy Policy)
Google Hosted LibrariesJavascript software libraries such as jQuery are loaded at endpoints on the googleapis.com or gstatic.com domains, for performance and efficiency reasons. (Privacy Policy)
Features
Google Custom SearchThis is feature allows you to search the site. (Privacy Policy)
Google MapsSome articles have Google Maps embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
Google ChartsThis is used to display charts and graphs on articles and the author center. (Privacy Policy)
Google AdSense Host APIThis service allows you to sign up for or associate a Google AdSense account with HubPages, so that you can earn money from ads on your articles. No data is shared unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Google YouTubeSome articles have YouTube videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
VimeoSome articles have Vimeo videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
PaypalThis is used for a registered author who enrolls in the HubPages Earnings program and requests to be paid via PayPal. No data is shared with Paypal unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook LoginYou can use this to streamline signing up for, or signing in to your Hubpages account. No data is shared with Facebook unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
MavenThis supports the Maven widget and search functionality. (Privacy Policy)
Marketing
Google AdSenseThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Google DoubleClickGoogle provides ad serving technology and runs an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Index ExchangeThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
SovrnThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook AdsThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Unified Ad MarketplaceThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
AppNexusThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
OpenxThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Rubicon ProjectThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
TripleLiftThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Say MediaWe partner with Say Media to deliver ad campaigns on our sites. (Privacy Policy)
Remarketing PixelsWe may use remarketing pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to advertise the HubPages Service to people that have visited our sites.
Conversion Tracking PixelsWe may use conversion tracking pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to identify when an advertisement has successfully resulted in the desired action, such as signing up for the HubPages Service or publishing an article on the HubPages Service.
Statistics
Author Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide traffic data and reports to the authors of articles on the HubPages Service. (Privacy Policy)
ComscoreComScore is a media measurement and analytics company providing marketing data and analytics to enterprises, media and advertising agencies, and publishers. Non-consent will result in ComScore only processing obfuscated personal data. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Tracking PixelSome articles display amazon products as part of the Amazon Affiliate program, this pixel provides traffic statistics for those products (Privacy Policy)
ClickscoThis is a data management platform studying reader behavior (Privacy Policy)