R. ANN SIRACUSA’S TRAVELBLOG: SUZHOU, CHINA
I love to travel almost as much as I love to write, and I’ve managed to combine those two passions into writing novels which transport readers to exotic settings, immerse them in romance, intrigue and foreign cultures, and make them laugh.
Currently, I have a humorous romantic suspense series featuring a tour director and a Europol spy, with each book set in a different country where I’ve traveled. And the upcoming release is set in China. Who’d have guessed?
Some background on China through my eyes
China has always been fascinating to westerners, in part because of the vast differences in culture. While China and the United States are close to the same size in area (China = 3.705 million sq.miles; U.S. = 3.794 million sq.miles), China has as population of approximately 1.338 billion people while the U.S. population is estimated at 307 million people. Quite a difference in population density. Any city with a population under 1.5 million is considered a small city in China, or so I was told when I was there.
China has fifty-six recognized ethnic groups, the largest being Han Chinese (descendents of the Chinese Dynasties from the Beijing area), and the other 8% are in one of the other fifty-five ethnic minorities, including Mongols, Tibetans, and Koreans.
In most other countries where I’ve traveled, tour guides have to be licensed by the government, but usually they are not government employees. In China, they work for the state and use a pretty “stock” script. Many of them even told the same jokes. A few of the local guides, toward the end of the trip, loosened up and gave us some of their own thoughts, but that did not happen often.
The Chinese we met were all very friendly and seemed well disposed toward Americans. Whether they really like us or not, they do like the American dollars. Most of the younger people spoke good English, and said their teachers learned English in China, not by studying in English speaking countries.
That being said, in this blog, I want to take you to a city which I didn’t know anything about until I traveled in China: the city of Suzhou, capital of the silk industry, located along the Grand Canal of China.
Suzhou
Suzhou (also Su-chou), a city on the lower reaches of the Yangtze River with a population of 6 million people, is located on the shores of Lake Taihu and along the Grand Canal. Because of the canal, it is sometimes called the “Venice of the East.” The city, which is 2,500 year old, is known for its beautiful stone bridges, pagodas, and gardens.
1 – Modern Suzhou from canal
***
2 - Suzhou Street
3 – Youycun Garden
***
4 - The Honorable Administrator’s Garden
***
5 - Garden paths are made of stone mosaics
***
6 - Temple of Mystery
***
7 - The North Temple Pagoda
The Grand Canal
The gardens were beautiful, but I found the Grand Canal, which runs through Suzhou, to be the most fascinating feature of the city. The canal starts in Beijing and extends southward for 1,103 miles to Hangzhou, south west of Shanghai. It is the longest canal in the world. The Chinese are excellent engineers and they go in for huge public works, like the Great Wall and Three Gorges Dam.
During the Song Dynasty in the 10th century, the pound lock was invented to raise ships over high elevations. Throughout history, the canal has been admired for its size, grandeur, and innovation.
8, 9, 10 - Homes along the Grand Canal in Suzhou
When the canal (begun in 486 BC), was completed in 609 AD, Suzhou found itself strategically located on a major trade route and since then has been the metropolis of industry and commerce on the south-eastern coast of China. The silk factory here is famous, and the Suzhou Hanging Gardens are a World Heritage Site. For me, the most interesting part was the plethora of sampans housing whole families who live their entire lives on the water.
11, 12 – Families live in Sampans on the Canal and lake
While I wanted to use this setting for an adventure for my tour director and spy, they didn’t make it to this venue. But if you have a change to travel there, it’s worth the time.
Where would you like to travel next?
If you like to travel to exotic lands and visit new cultures, visit my website at: http://www.rannsiracusa.com and find out about my books. Or drop by one of my guest Travelblogs. There are lots of places left in the world to go (and I’ve actually been to quite a few of them). Peru and the Amazon are next.
See ‘ya. R. Ann Siracusa
▪
COMING IN AUGUST
Book Three in the humorous Romantic Suspense series
Harriet Ruby: Tour Director Extraordinaire
Sapphire Blue Publishing
DESTRUCTION OF THE GREAT WALL
(Working Title)
FUN, FAST, AND NAUGHTY
Take another fast-paced romantic romp with young tour director, Harriet Ruby, and handsome spy, Will Talbot. Will, this time on a covert mission to recover a list of counterspies, travels with Harriet as her husband (his cover) on a tour she’s conducting in China. Things begin to go downhill when her parents turn up as members of the tour group. Then someone tries to kill her. You’ll be surprised by what happens.
BLURB
I’m Harriet Ruby, Tour Director Extraordinaire. At last, one of my fondest wishes has come true! Will Talbot, my favorite Super Spy and the love of my life, wants to include me in his covert mission to recover a list of double agents for the US government.
Wow! Usually, I want to know everything, and he can’t tell me anything. Now, I’ll be part of the action. I am so-o going to love this!
Not that I have a big role. I only have to act as if we’re husband and wife when he accompanies me on my China tour. The tour group members are strangers we’ll never see again, and we can spend three intimate weeks together.
I mean, how hard can that be?
Surprise, surprise! My parents show up on the tour as replacements for some cancellations. Now, we have to pretend we’re married to protect Will’s cover.
And then, other problems erupt when someone tries to kill me and terrorists kidnap me and my mother to lure Will into a trap. Not to mention the damage my assault rifle does to the Great Wall…
Oh, man. It wasn’t my fault. Really!
Book One – All For A Dead Man’s Leg
Book Two – All For A Fist Full Of Ashes
▪
No comments:
Post a Comment