Suzhou

Suzhou, Wade-Giles romanization Su-chou, also called Wuxian, conventional Soochow, city, southern Jiangsu sheng (province), eastern China. It is situated on the southern section of the Grand Canal on a generally flat, low-lying plain between the renowned Lake Tai to the west and the vast Shanghai metropolis to the east. Surrounded by canals on all four sides and crisscrossed by minor canals, the city controls the Yangtze River (Chang Jiang) delta area north and northeast of Lake Tai. Suzhou is a place of great beauty, with lakes, rivers, ponds, world-famous gardens, and a string of scenic hills along the eastern shore of the lake. It also lies at the centre of some of the richest agricultural land in China.