It's a town lying 20 km west of Suzhou, on the bank of Taihu Lake. In the Datong period of the Southern Liang Dynasty, the Gu family abandoned their residence and built the Guangfu Temple. They then renamed the town "Guangfu" too. There are ranges of verdant hills surrounding the town, which has been listed as a historical and cultural town in Jiangsu Province.
In Guangfu Town, tourists can visit the Guangfu Temple, Guangfu Pagoda, the Ancient Situ Cypress, and the Tianshou Sheng'en Temple. Dengwei Mountain situated south of the town has been covered with plum trees since the Western Han Dynasty (206 B.C.-25). In late winter and early spring, plum blossoms would change the slopes into a sea of flowers, which is the famous "sea of fragrant snow."
(China.org.cn June 24, 2004)
