Private tour of Wuxi and surroundings with visit to San’guo City

Jichang Garden is located inside Xihui Park, east side of Huishan, east side of western suburban of Wuxi, Jiangsu Province, China. It is close to Huishan Temple. Jichang Garden is a famed Chinese classical garden in South China, and it was claimed as a national protected location of historical and cultural relics on 13 January 1988. With an area about 2.5 acres, Jichang Garden is proud of its natural hills, elegant waters, concise structure, ancient trees and ingenious scenes. The great emperors Kangxi and Qianlong of Qing Dynasty had visited here for times and left inscriptions and poems; now the steles are still well-preserved and displayed in the garden. It is said that the Garden of Harmonious Interests in Summer Palace and the Double Crane Pavilion in Yumingyuan (the Old Summer Palace) are both the imitations of Jichang Garden.

Lingshan Giant Buddha or Lingshan Buddha, is one of the symbol of Wuxi City located at the northern bank of Taihu Lake. This holy land - Lingshan Grand Buddha Scenic Area got its name after “small Lingshan” by Xuanzang - a famous Chinese Buddhist monk in early Tang Dynasty who made interaction between China and India. Built in 1997, the bronze Shakyamuni Buddha at Lingshan stands majestically at 88 meters tall, among which the body of the Buddha is for 79 meters and the lotus flower pedestal is 9 meters. Embraced by three hills and facing with Taihu Lake, this great Buddha is friendly smiling, observing all livings and protecting his people. Actually, being the world’s tallest bronze Shakyamuni Buddha in the open air, Lingshan Grand Buddha is 17 meters taller than Leshan Giant Buddha in Sichuan Province.

A smaller part of a larger whole, San’guo city is one of the other two city sets namely Shuihu and Tang city. All these are actually sets built for a popular TV series named The Romance of The Three Kingdoms. After construction, the sets covered an area of 35 hectares and after the completion and successful run of the TV show the place soon became a tourist attractions, a sort of a mini version of Universal Studios in China. The sets contain remarkable buildings in the Han dynasty style such as King Wu’s palace, Gunlu Temple, two Quelou Towers, Drum Tower, Buddhist Hall, The Brick Pagoda, Army Camps and others. All these places are spots where many favourite scenes from the show were shot.

Wuxi is one of the older cities in the Yangtze River (Chang Jiang) delta area. It was originally known as a source of tin, but, by the time the county was founded in 202 BCE, the deposits had been exhausted, and the county was named Wuxi (“Without Tin”). Wuxi has traditionally been a centre of the textile industry, being engaged in both cotton textiles and silk reeling. Present-day Wuxi is the one of the greatest silk-reeling centres in China. Cotton textile production is also important and is the city’s largest single industry. Other long-established industries include flour milling, rice polishing, and oil extraction. Industrial development has accelerated since the 1950s. Tourism has become increasingly important. Wuxi’s surroundings include many well-known scenic spots that have been carefully preserved, together with city parks and historic sites, and the national government has designated it as one of China’s historical and cultural cities.