History of Suzhou

Suzhou alternately romanized as Soochow, is a major city located in southeastern Jiangsu

Province of East China, about 100 km (62 mi) northwest of Shanghai. It is a major economic center
and focal point of trade and commerce, and the second largest city in the province, after its
capital Nanjing. The city is situated on the lower reaches of the Yangtze River and the shores
of Lake Tai and belongs to the Yangtze River Delta region. Administratively, Suzhou is a prefecture-
level city with a population of 4.33 million in its city proper, and a total resident population (as of
2013) of 10.58 million in its administrative area. Its urban population grew at an unprecedented rate
of 6.5% between 2000 and 2014, which is the highest among cities with more than 5 million people.
Founded in 514 BC, Suzhou has over 2,500 years of history, with an abundant display of relics and
sites of historical interest. Around AD 100, during the Eastern Han dynasty, it became one of the ten
largest cities in the world mostly due to emigration from Northern China. Since the 10th-
century Song dynasty, it has been an important commercial center of China. During
the Ming and Qing dynasties, Suzhou was a national economic, cultural, and commercial center, as
well as the largest non-capital city in the world, until the 1860 Taiping Rebellion. When Li
Hongzhang and Charles George Gordon recaptured the city three years later, Shanghai had already
taken its predominant place in the nation.[12] Since major economic reforms began in 1978, Suzhou
has become one of the fastest growing major cities in the world, with GDP growth rates of about
14% in the past 35 years. With high life expectancy and per capita incomes, Suzhou's Human
Development Index ratings is roughly comparable to a moderately developed country, making it one
of the most highly developed and prosperous cities in China.
The city's canals, stone bridges, pagodas, and meticulously designed gardens have contributed to
its status as one of the top tourist attractions in China. The Classical Gardens of Suzhou were added
to the list of the UNESCO World Heritage Sites in 1997 and 2000. Suzhou is often dubbed the
"Venice of the East" or "Venice of China".

Names
During the Zhou, a settlement known as Gusu after nearby Mount Gusu (t 姑蘇山, s 姑苏
山, p Gūsūshān) became the capital of the state of Wu. From this role, it also came to be
called Wu as well. In 514 BC, King Helü of Wu established a new capital nearby at Helü City and
this grew into the modern city. During the Warring States period, Helü City continued to serve as the
local seat of government. From the areas it administered, it became known as Wuxian (lit. "Wu
County") and Wujun ("Wu Commandery").Under the Qin, it was known as Kuaijiafter its greatly
enlarged commandery, which was named for the reputed resting place of Yu the Great near
modern Shaoxing in Zhejiang.
The name Suzhou was first officially used for the city in AD 589 during the Sui dynasty.
The sū (蘇 or 苏) in its name is a contraction of the old name Gusu. It refers to the
mint perilla (shiso). The zhou 州 originally meant something like a province or county (cf. Guizhou),
but often came to be used metonymously for the capital of such a region (cf. Guangzhou, Hangzhou,
etc.). Suzhou is the Hanyu Pinyin spelling of the Mandarin pronunciation of the name. Prior to the
adoption of pinyin, it was variously romanized as Soo-chow, Suchow, or Su-chow.
History
Suzhou, the cradle of Wu culture, is one of the oldest towns in the Yangtze Basin. By the Spring and
Autumn period of the Zhou, local tribes named the Gou Wu are recorded living in the area which
would become the modern city of Suzhou. These tribes formed villages on the edges of the hills
above the wetlands surrounding Lake Tai.
Sima Qian's Records of the Grand Historian records traditional accounts that
the Zhou lord Taibo established the state of Wu at nearby Wuxi during the 11th century BC, civilizing
the local people and improving their agriculture and mastery of irrigation. The Wu court later moved
to Gusu within the area of modern Suzhou. In 514 BC, King Helü of Wu relocated his court nearby
and called the settlement Helü City after himself. His minister Wu Zixuwas closely involved with its
planning and it was this site that grew into present-day Suzhou. The height of his tower on Gusu Hill
(Gusutai) passed into Chinese legend. In 496 BC, King Helü was buried at Tiger Hill. In 473 BC, Wu
was defeated and annexed by Yue, a kingdom to its southeast; Yue was annexed in turn by Chu in
306 BC. Remnants of the ancient kingdom include pieces of its 2,500-year-old city wall and the gate
through it at Pan Gate.
The city was originally laid out according to a symbolic three-by-three grid of nine squares, with the
royal palace occupying the central position.
During the Warring States period, Suzhou was the seat of Wu County and Commandery. Following
the Qin Empire's conquest of the area in 222 BC, it was made the capital of Kuaiji Commandery,
including lands stretching from the south bank of the Yangtze to the unconquered interior
of Minyue in southern Zhejiang. Amid the collapse of the Qin, Kuaiji's governor Yin Tong attempted
to organize his own rebellion only to be betrayed and executed by Xiang Liang and his
nephew Xiang Yu, who launched their own rebellion from the city.
When the Grand Canal was completed, Suzhou found itself strategically located on a major trade
route. In the course of the history of China, it has been a metropolis of industry and commerce on
the southeastern coast of China. During the Tang dynasty, the great poet Bai Juyi constructed the
Shantang Canal (better known as "Shantang Street") to connect the city with Tiger Hill for tourists. In
AD 1035, the Suzhou Confucian Temple was founded by famed poet and writer Fan Zhongyan. It
became a venue for the imperial civil examinations and then developed into the modern Suzhou
High School in the 1910s.
In February 1130, the advancing Jin army from the north ransacked the city. This was followed by
the Mongol invasion in 1275. In 1356, Suzhou became the capital of Zhang Shicheng, one of the
leaders of the Red Turban Rebellion against the Yuan dynasty and the self-proclaimed King of Wu.
In 1367, Zhang's Nanjing-based rival Zhu Yuanzhang took the city after a 10-month siege. Zhu –
who was soon to proclaim himself the first emperor of the Ming Dynasty – demolished the royal city
in the center of Suzhou's walled city and imposed crushing taxes on the city and prefecture's
powerful families. Despite the heavy taxation and the resettlement of some of Suzhou's prominent
citizens' to the area of Hongwu's capital at Nanjing, Suzhou was soon prosperous again. During the
early Ming, Suzhou Prefecture supervised the Yangtze shoals which later
became Shanghai's Chongming Island. For centuries the city, with its surroundings as an economic
base, represented an extraordinary source of tax revenue.
When the shipwrecked Korean official Choe Bu had a chance to see much of Eastern China from
Zhejiang to Liaoning on his way home in 1488, he described Suzhou in his travel report as
exceeding every other city. Many of the area's private gardens were constructed by the gentry of
the Ming and Qing dynasties. The iconoclast Taipings captured the city in 1860, however, and its
former buildings and gardens were "almost... a heap of ruins"by the time of their recovery by Charles
Gordon's Ever-Victorious Army in November 1863. Nonetheless, by 1880, its population was
estimated to have recovered to about 500,000, which remained stable for the next few decades. In
the late 19th century, the town was particularly known for its wide range of silks and its Chinese-
language publishing industry. The town was first opened to direct foreign trade by the Treaty of
Shimonoseki ending the First Sino-Japanese War and by the most favored nation clauses of
earlier unequal treaties with the Great Powers. The new expatriates opened a European-and-
Chinese school in 1900 and the Suzhou railway station, connecting it with Shanghai, opened on July
16, 1906. Just prior to the World War I, there were 7000 silk looms in operation, as well as a cotton
mill and a large trade in rice.

As late as the early 20th century, much of the city consisted of islands connected by rivers, creeks,
and canals to the surrounding countryside. Prior to their demolition, the city walls ran in a circuit of
about 10 miles (16 km) with four large suburbs lying outside. The Japanese invaded in 1937, and
many gardens were again devastated by the end of the war. In the early 1950s, restoration was
done on the Humble Administrator's Garden and the Lingering Garden.