One-Day Suzhou Highlight Tour

At 8:30am, your tour guide will pick you up from your hotel in Suzhou and visit Humble Administrator's Garden. Originally built as part of a retirement residence for a former government official named Wang Xianchen who longed for the life of a humble man, hence the name, in 1509 during Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), Humble Administrator's Garden was established upon old relics of a home and a temple. Water is so featured throughout the garden along with natural landscapes of small forests, hills, and rock formations. The garden boasts a conglomerate of pavilions, halls, and parlors. Unlike the Grand View Garden and other famous gardens in Beijing, Humble Administrator's Garden is an epic representative of Ming Dynasty architecture style.

Next, visit Hanshan Temple, which is famous in East Asia because of the popularity of the poem, "A Night Mooring by Maple Bridge" by Tang Dynasty poet, Zhang Ji. The poem depicts a melancholic scene of a dejected traveler, moored at night at Fengqiao, hearing the sound of bells from Hanshan Temple. The poem remained popular to date in modern China, Japan, and Korea, and also part of the curriculum at grade schools in China and Japan. The ringing of the bell at Hanshan Temple on Chinese New Year's eve is a major pilgrimage and tourism event for visitors from both countries. Lunch will be followed and served at a local Chinese restaurant.

In the afternoon, visit Tiger Hill where is renowned for its natural beauty as well as historical sites. The hill is named because its shape is said to look like a crouching tiger. Another legend said that a white tiger appeared on the hill guarding the burial of King Helü and sometimes regarded as a parallel of "Lion Mountain," another hill near Suzhou that clearly resembles a sitting lion. On the summit of Tiger Hill is the Pagoda of the Yunyan Temple. As the oldest pagoda in the vicinity of Suzhou, it has come to be a symbol of Suzhou and the distinction of the Leaning Tower of China as opposed to Pisa of Italy.

Later, continue on to visit a Silk Factory. Suzhou silk gained a worldwide reputation from as early as the Tang and Song Dynasties (618-1279). The city of Suzhou is surrounded by mulberry fields and abounds in natural gifts, abundant sunshine, plentiful rainfall, and rich soils that foster a perfect environment for rich cocoons thus high qualities of silk. Suzhou has been the primary manufacturing area and the center hub of raw silk in China. At the factory, you will see complete production of silkworm raising, cocoon sorting, cocoon boiling, reeling, yarn spinning and packing. Furthermore,at the product exhibition hall, you will see a collection of products produced by this factory such as silk wadding quilts. After the visit, you will be transfer back to your Suzhou hotel where this day tour concludes.