Suzhou Favorite Tips by Paul2001 Top 5 Page for this destination

Tongli and its Canals

Favorite thing: Although Suzhou is supposedly famous for its canals it is the town of Tongli that should be a must-see if you are interesting is getting a glimpse of what a Ming area water town must have looked like. Tongli was really quite pleasant surprise for me. I had been in China for a month and rarely got to see much of its historical past condensed into a reasonably walkable area as I did in Tongli (another example is Pingyao).
The town dates from the Song Dynasty however most of the buildings that you visit are from the Ming and Qing dynasties. The town is actually a cluster of seven islands connected by supposedly 49 bridges some as old as 700 years. Because it has so many historical monuments and few modern buildings, the town is frequently used by Chinese cinema for historical dramas. It has recently been discovered by the tourists world and full of bus groups during my visit.
Tongli is located 18km southeast of Suzhou and is basically a suburb. Unlike much of Suzhou, it has not been torn down to make way for progress. What also surprised me about the town is that there was quite a bit to see around the town other than the old canals themselves. There are several interesting old halls and gardens that rival those in Suzhou. There is also the famous sex museum that will raise a few eyebrows. It took me a day to see everything that Tongli had to offer.