The canals of Suzhou are a window into the past of what this southern Chinese city was 1500 years ago. The two most famous streets are the 2500-year-old Pingjiang Road and the 1200-year-old Shantang Street. Both of these places have been heavily renewed and adapted for tourism, although there is still one bit of Shantang that is still not tourist-ready, as I showed in my previous post. Rush to see it if you can, as I have heard there are plans for remodeling.
Suzhou is the home of the Wu culture and language, today known as Shanghainese, 60 Km away from its better known neighbor. Shanghai is what it is now because of the fall of Suzhou in a battle in the early 20th century.