Mudu, 10 km west of Suzhou, is a famous historical and cultural town. Its name, "Mudu", meaning "timbers blocking the river", came from a legendary story, which says that during the Spring and Autumn Period, when King Wu was building "Guanwa Palace" for his concubine Xishi, the huge amount of timbers rafted here blocked the river.

With numerous Ming-and Qing-dynasty gardens, Mudu is famed as a town of gardens. Owing to its geographical position, with the nearby Taihu Lake and the Grand Canal, a mild climate and fertile soil, Mudu is "land of fish and rice."

The forefathers of the local people began growing paddy rice some 6,000 years ago.

(China.org.cn June 24, 2004)