Tongli Water Town

Historic Jiangnan Water Town; Its Tuisi Garden Is Part Of The Classical Gardens Of Suzhou UNESCO World Heritage Site · Suzhou, Jiangsu

A thousand-year-old canal town on the lakes south of Suzhou, where fifteen streams divide the town into islands joined by nearly fifty stone bridges, and whitewashed merchant houses lean over the water beneath willows. Tongli grew rich from rice, silk and trade in the Ming and Qing dynasties, and its wealthy families and retired officials built elegant halls and gardens behind plain canal-side walls. The finest is Tuisi Garden, the Garden of Retreat and Reflection, created in the 1880s by Ren Lansheng, an official dismissed from his post, who arranged pavilions, rockeries and covered walkways around a pond so that the whole garden seems to float on the water; it is part of the Classical Gardens of Suzhou World Heritage Site. In the town centre stand the Three Bridges - Taiping, Jili and Changqing - which local couples cross at their weddings for peace, luck and long life, a custom visitors still follow. The Gengle Hall, Chongben Hall and Jiayin Hall show the carved halls of merchant families, and Luoxing Island floats in Tongli Lake with its temple. Wooden boats rowed by boatwomen glide along the canals, and Tongli is generally quieter and more lived-in than the busiest water towns around Shanghai, especially early in the morning and after the day-trippers leave.

Tuisi Garden, Tongli Town, Wujiang District, Suzhou, Suzhou, Jiangsu, China

Gate about 7:30-21:00; ticketed halls and gardens about 7:30-17:30. Tuisi Garden night tour April 25-October 31, 2026, entry 17:15-20:45.

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