Ancienne bourgade de Tongli

Tongli is a water town on the eastern shore of Lake Tai in the Wujiang district of southern Suzhou, founded more than a thousand years ago and still largely preserving the canal-and-bridge layout of its Ming-Qing heyday. The old town occupies a cluster of seven small islets divided by fifteen canals and connected by forty-nine stone bridges, a configuration that earned it the old nickname the Venice of the East. In 2000 the old town was incorporated into the Classical Gardens of Suzhou World Heritage Site when Tuisi Garden, its finest surviving classical garden, was added to the UNESCO listing.

The architecture of Tongli is the most complete expression of the Jiangnan water-town vernacular in the Suzhou region. White-walled, gray-tiled merchant houses line the canals, their front doors opening onto narrow lanes and their back doors directly onto the water, where stone steps lead down to the canal for washing, trading, and mooring boats. The most important of these residences is Gengle Hall, a Ming dynasty mansion that once belonged to a wealthy local family, and Jiayin Hall, whose elaborate brick carvings on the main gate are among the finest in the region.

The single most visited site in Tongli is Tuisi Garden, a late-Qing dynasty classical garden built between 1885 and 1887 by the dismissed official Ren Lansheng. The name Retreat and Reflection refers to a passage in the Confucian Analects about the proper attitude of an official in exile. Although small, the garden is regarded as one of the finest examples of late-Qing garden design, with a tight pond-centered layout, a two-story pavilion, and a covered corridor that runs along the water's edge. Its inclusion on the World Heritage List makes it the most accessible way to see a smaller-scale Suzhou classical garden in a less crowded setting.

Compared with Zhouzhuang, Tongli is generally quieter and retains more of a lived-in atmosphere, with a substantial local population still residing in the old town. Visiting in the early morning or staying overnight for the illuminated canal views allows travelers to experience the town at its most atmospheric, when the day-trip crowds have gone and the lantern-lit bridges reflect in the still water. Tea houses, small noodle shops, and a handful of folk museums make Tongli one of the most rewarding water towns in the Yangtze delta for unhurried exploration.