Xukou Canal Towns

The canal towns south and west of Suzhou — Tongli, Mudu, Guangfu, Xukou — formed a continuous chain of trading and crafts villages along the southern arm of the Grand Canal. Each preserves a substantial Ming-and-Qing town centre, with stone bridges, canal-side residences, and a slow-paced atmosphere that contrasts with central Suzhou.

Tongli, the most famous of the cluster (technically administered by adjacent Wujiang District but commonly grouped with Suzhou), is UNESCO listed as a part of the China Grand Canal heritage site. Its layout — fifteen rivers cross the town, dividing it into seven small islands connected by 49 stone bridges — is the canonical southern-China water-town plan. The Tuisi Garden ("Garden for Retirement") is a smaller classical garden of substantial quality, less crowded than Suzhou's UNESCO Big Four.

Mudu, on the western edge of Suzhou, is the more accessible of the canal towns by metro. Yan Family Garden and Hong Yin Mountain Garden — both classical-revival garden estates — anchor the visitor circuit. Mudu has a quieter atmosphere than Tongli and a less commercial street character.

Guangfu's Sigong Plum Garden is the largest plum-orchard garden in Jiangsu — the late-winter plum bloom (early February) draws photographers from across the lower Yangtze. Lingyan Mountain, immediately above Guangfu, was a Wu kingdom palace site in the 5th century BCE; the surviving Lingyan Pagoda crown the summit and offer views across Lake Tai.