Travel Notes | Some thoughts about Suzhou

Hello duck~

I haven’t updated for a long time because I have to study. Did you miss me?

Today’s update is the last travelogue about Suzhou. Thinking about it, we took advantage of our internship to go to Suzhou in the winter of 2019. I haven’t updated for such a long time and you haven’t unfollowed me yet. The annual blog post has been downloaded. moved tears

This is a flower on a tree in the Humble Administrator's Garden. It is unimaginable for a northerner to see flowers in winter (at this time, I, a northerner, looked at the ice flowers frozen on the window). Although the winter in Jiangsu and Zhejiang is actually not very warm, for the ancient people who could only rely on stoves, braziers and earthen kangs to stay warm in winter, this place in winter can really be said to be a fairyland on earth.

In Suzhou, whether in gardens, on Tiger Hill, in Hanshan Temple, or in those ancient town-style streets, there will be such brick-carved mythical beasts squatting on the eaves everywhere.

Perhaps for most people, the most familiar ridge beasts are the 11 little cuties on the eaves of the Forbidden City. However, due to the strict feudal hierarchy in ancient times, the ridge beasts on the houses of wealthy families exceeded the representative etiquette. The official limited edition has more varieties.

Of course, a temple with strong financial resources like Hanshan Temple will not let go of such decoration. Because they are monks, the temple houses cannot have the appearance of carved beams and painted pillars, but their brick carvings are exceptionally rich.

Some houses have dragon heads and arhats carved on them, and some have the "Four Heavenly Kings" carved on them in the four directions of southeast, northwest and southeast (yes, the four inner brothers in "Havoc in Heaven")

In the middle of a main hall of Hanshan Temple, there is also the Western Heaven Scripture Learning Team , and the White Dragon Horse, who never participates in fights, firmly occupies the C position 🐴

Perhaps because China does not produce lions, stone lions are also a favorite decoration in various places compared to the big tiger 🐅 that appears very frequently in various stories and legends. Even on the cement bridge on the road 🦁

On the guardrail surrounding a stone monument in Hanshan Temple, there are several white marble lions of different shapes. Some are playing with hydrangeas that look like five-nut mooncakes , and some are busy taking care of their children while guarding the stone monument.

Different from the pure white marble lions in Hanshan Temple, the stone lions near Tiger Hill have many traces of time due to weathering.

This little lion with a playful smile on the bridge beside the ancient canal has more of a human atmosphere than the fierce ones in the temple.

At the corner of a fence in Huqiu, there are three little ones like this fishing and chatting at work

When I got closer, I looked at the one in position C, and it actually looked a little bit like a fat little plum.

In addition to visiting the serious sightseeing spots, we also went to Guanqian Street and Shantang Street, two streets in the ancient town where things are sold. Beside a bridge on Shantang Street, there is such a cute stone cat sitting on the bridge instead of the lion, watching the pedestrians coming and going.

In Guanqian Street, there is really a Taoist temple. Walking down Guanqian Street, you can see a silk shop in three steps and a jade shop in five steps, which fits everyone’s stereotype of Jiangnan. There are also tinkling hammering sounds everywhere. At the entrance of every silver shop, there is a craftsman sitting on a bench and crazyly hinting to passers-by that his jewelry is all handmade , which makes me seriously doubt that they actually It’s not really about making anything, it’s just about making real-life dynamic ads.

Shantang Street is more like a small town on both sides of a river, because Shantang Street is undergoing large-scale renovations, and the buildings along the river are covered with scaffolding and green nylon netting that is common on construction sites. It makes me suspect that the map resources cannot be loaded because I did not charge enough money (Tencent: "I am familiar with this")

On the night of the first day, we went to Jinji Lake, which is said to have a particularly good night view in Suzhou. Although the lake is a large area of ​​darkness, we can see it every time on the startup screen of the Suzhou Metro system app Big autumn pants👖

Also on the night of the first day in Suzhou, we encountered a "ghost beating the wall" near Suzhou Station because we didn't look at the navigation. We saw the statue of Fan Zhongyan twice by the river in Suzhou. This river is not Suzhou River. The legendary Suzhou River is not in Suzhou, but actually in Shanghai (I also happened to go to Suzhou River, which I will write about in my travel notes later)

When we were in transit, we passed by Wuxi. Among the high-rise buildings in the city, there was a pavilion called "Imperial Pavilion". It was very cyberpunk.

via：一二三

There is a group of bronze statues like this next to the imperial pavilion. The small sign on the table says that this was a gathering of five cultural celebrities in Wuxi. But we stood on one side and couldn't find the fifth person besides the waiter serving tea and water: Qian Zhongshu, until we turned to the other side and saw the childhood Qian Zhongshu sitting on the ground.

In Suzhou, I also experienced salty rice dumplings, white porridge that is common in the south but not common in the north, and water shield soup that made Zhang Jiying resign and return to his hometown... In short, Suzhou is really a fun place. I hope to have the opportunity to visit the bustling city in the future. Come here again during the blooming season ('▿')