City of China : In Red Embroidered Shoes Sipping the Essence of Suzhou

It is quite possible that the number of westerners who have heard of Shanghai is matched by the number who have not heard of the city of Suzhou. It would be understandable that even observers with a passing knowledge of China might think of Suzhou as no more than a satellite of its larger and more populous neighbor. The truth is that Suzhou, a former capital of China, has a 2,500-year history that is much longer and more illustrious than Shanghai's, featuring astonishing achievements in almost every field of human endeavor – including politics, the military, the arts, culture, education, and religion. Its classical private gardens merit their unmatched renown, its old city is one of the best preserved in China, and its modern history is that of a vibrant pioneer that has established itself as one of China's wealthiest cities. Allow yourself to be introduced to Suzhou, the finest of Jiangsu Province's water cities, and savor the essence of the old and the new in this book by author David W. Ferguson.

Publisher:Foreign Languages Press