Calming Garden Suzhou China
Tourism is big money in China, but what can you do if you want a piece of that pie but don’t own any ancient tourist attractions? Well, the answer in China is simple: you build your own fake attraction and get the taxis in the city to push the site onto all the tourists who come to the city. This is exactly what the “Calming Gardens” in Suzhou has done.
The garden is certainly built to look old and has many tourists walking around it. I cannot complain about the experience in the park itself, except for the fact that it is not an authentic ancient park, although it portrays itself as one. Most people go to Suzhou to explore the ancient parks and gardens in the city, so it is easy to get conned into coming here.
The garden is certainly built to look old and has many tourists walking around it. I cannot complain about the experience in the park itself, except for the fact that it is not an authentic ancient park, although it portrays itself as one. Most people go to Suzhou to explore the ancient parks and gardens in the city, so it is easy to get conned into coming here.
There are nods to ancient Chinese culture all around the park.
If you are up for a boat ride, you can get a tour around the garden on their electric wooden boat. I personally prefer to walk around and take photos though.
They have a small museum in the park as well, but just like the park, nothing inside is really all that old.
To be honest, there are very few signs in the museum so I have no idea what the different statues were meant to be doing.
Perhaps I sound a little harsh on this park, but as parks go, it is not too bad. I guess I prefer ancient parks with a long history, so I am slightly biased. If you come to Suzhou one day and have done everything you can in the city, you should try this park. It is close to Tiger Hill and is a good way to kill a few hours in the city. Would I come back to this park again? Hell no, but I enjoyed the few hours I spent walking around here.
Shaun.