Suzhou and Tongli Water Village exploration on a private trip from Wuxi

The Humble Administrator's Garden is a Chinese garden in Suzhou, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of the most famous of the gardens of Suzhou. The garden is located at 178 Northeast Street, Gusu District. It is the largest garden in Suzhou and is considered by some to be the finest garden in all of southern China. The garden contains numerous pavilions and bridges set among a maze of connected pools and islands. It consists of three major parts set about a large lake: the central part (Zhuozheng Yuan), the eastern part, and a western part (the Supplementary Garden). The house lies in the south of the garden. In total, the garden contains 48 different buildings with 101 tablets, 40 steles, 21 precious old trees, and over 700 Suzhou-style penjing/penzai.

Pingjiang Road is a street and historic district in Gusu District (formerly the Pingjiang District), northeastern Suzhou, Jiangsu, China. It is a well-preserved area and is part of the so-called Old Town of Suzhou. In 2015, the Pingjiang Road Historical Block was added to the list of China's "National Historic and Cultural Streets".

Suzhou, alternately romanized as Soochow, is a major city located in southeastern Jiangsu Province of East China, about 100 km northwest of Shanghai. It is a major economic center and focal point of trade and commerce, and the second-largest city in the province, after its capital Nanjing. The city is situated on the lower reaches of the Yangtze River and the shores of Lake Tai and belongs to the Yangtze River Delta region. The city's canals, stone bridges, pagodas, and meticulously designed gardens have contributed to its status as one of the top tourist attractions in China. The Classical Gardens of Suzhou were added to the list of the UNESCO World Heritage Sites in 1997 and 2000. Suzhou is often dubbed the "Venice of the East" or "Venice of China"

Suzhou Grand Canal is located at the Taihu Lake Basin in the downstream of Yangtze River and belongs to Jiangnan Grand Canal which starts from Zhenjiang in the north and ends at Hangzhou in the south, and it’s an important part of Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal. Today’s Suzhou Grand Canal crosses the city center of Suzhou, and accounts for 4.5% of Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal. In 2014, the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, including Suzhou Grand Canal section has being listed in the World Heritage Site List by UNESCO.

Tongli, alternately Tong-Li is a town in Wujiang district, on the outskirts of Suzhou, Jiangsu province. It is known for a system of canals, it has been given the nickname "Venice of the East". The place retains many of the features of an ancient Wu region town.

The world-class Tuisi Garden, built from the 11th to the 13th year of the Guangxu Period of the Qing Dynasty, is a masterful display of garden-building techniques. Ren Lansheng, master of the garden, was once an officer. After being sued and removed from office, he built this garden and named it “Tuisiyuan,” which in Chinese means “retreating and reflecting on one’s faults.” Yuan Long, the garden’s designer, was a skilled poet and painter. He designed the original layout and completed the garden within two years. Tuisi Garden covers an area more than 0.65 square meters. The garden’s housing complex comprises an inner part and an outer part. Visitors enter the outer house by passing three halls—Qiao Hall (the entrance hall), the tea hall, and the main hall—clearly aligned along a west–east axis. The outer house provides space for meetings, wedding ceremonies, and for ancestral worship.

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.