He liked to think of himself as humble, because in his retirement the produce of his garden provided food for his table. But believe me this retired Ming Dynasty administrator's vision of a paradise on earth for himself was sublimely grandiose. An artist friend designed and constructed it for him, and now the government owns it and visitors are welcomed (citizens who are seniors visit for free). It's a splendid vision, and a wonderful visit.
The pagoda in the distance (visible dimly through the haze) was already an antique when this garden was built. The artist incorporated a view of it within the garden.
I enjoyed the many pavement designs. This one is the character for longevity, together with five bats. "Bat" in Chinese is a homonym for "long life." Many Chinese symbols are based on such homonyms.
The next thing we did was visit and climb up the Northern Pagoda, a Buddhist shrine originally built in his mother's honor by a dutiful son. Dutiful children, take note! It's possible to erect a memorial to your wonderful mother to which tourists will flock for hundreds of generations to come.
Bill and our guide steamed on ahead up the stairs, and I took my leisurely way, covering only 7 levels, whereas they made it to the top -- 9 floors in all. Inside, there were niches galore in which statues could be housed, but only the niches on the bottom level contained images.
This is the central statue. It appears to be carved from a kind of granite. Granite of various colors was used extensively for paving and carving and construction. I rather like this serene Buddha with the "halo."
View from within the 7th floor of the pagoda of the city of Suzhou. Our guide told us that silk production (25% of all of China's output), pharmaceuticals and "electric" industry are the largest industries in Suzhou, a city of 10 million so near to Shanghai that they don't need their own airport. The city has one subway line.
"Master of the Nets" Garden in old Suzhou is reputed to be so named in thanks for a fisherman who saved the owner's daughter when she fell into the water. It was built by another humble man, a high official, and is also stunningly beautiful. This is the outer reception hall. The bronze object in the foreground is a drum. You can see many of the important design elements of such a garden on display: marble inlay (on the chair backs and framed free-standing), silk painting, calligraphy, ornamental stone of interesting shape (on a carved wooden pedestal uniquely designed to show it off), and a small porcelain article. Oh, yes -- and flowers.
One of the many "Tings" or stopping points (pavilions) in the garden uses a frame within a frame to display the carefully designed scenery. The pavilions are very inviting, each unique in shape, size and purpose, and very harmonious with the natural elements (rock, trees, shrubs, flowers, water).
I must have become tired of trying (and failing) to capture the beauty of the gardens by camera, and decided to at least capture Bill's and Susan's presence on this day. Peter and Fiona stayed in Shanghai for the days we spent in Suzhou and in the water village).
I don't have photos of the silk factory, but was utterly fascinated by the process in which the filaments from 8 separate cocoons are spun into one strand of silk. A unique art form is silk embroidery used as art, rather than as decoration for fabric that is used for another purpose. Such embroidery is done on tightly woven undyed silk fabric, which is translucent and was used in the past instead of glass in a window or a lantern. The embroidery uses single filaments of silk -- a strand separated into its 8 filaments -- to create astonishing art works. Naturally, some of these were for sale, but we didn't indulge. We did buy a new comforter cover for the quilt Bill bought at the same factory in 2007 when he was there with the Le Moyne contingent. The squadron of sales people (we were the only customers at the time) were disappointed that we were not buying a quilt as well. We did our tiny bit for China's econo
I don't have photos of the silk factory, but was utterly fascinated by the process in which the filaments from 8 separate cocoons are spun into one strand of silk. A unique art form is silk embroidery used as art, rather than as decoration for fabric that is used for another purpose. Such embroidery is done on tightly woven undyed silk fabric, which is translucent and was used in the past instead of glass in a window or a lantern. The embroidery uses single filaments of silk -- a strand separated into its 8 filaments -- to create astonishing art works. Naturally, some of these were for sale, but we didn't indulge. We did buy a new comforter cover for the quilt Bill bought at the same factory in 2007 when he was there with the Le Moyne contingent. The squadron of sales people (we were the only customers at the time) were disappointed that we were not buying a quilt as well. We did our tiny bit for China's econo