Tongli is a historic town,
which is 18Km away from Suzhou to southeast. It used to be an economic
center for trade and craft, with its peak in the Ming and the Qing
dynasties.
From the Song to the Qing dynasty, many famous scholars, poets, and painters
grew up at this town, one of whom was Ji Cheng, the author of Yuan Ye
(1634), a
classic on landscape architecture. The town has an area of 68 hectares and a population of
10,000 people as now. Today, it attracts us with traditional townscape and dwellings
of the Ming and the Qing dynasties. The 36 percent of present
buildings here date from the Ming and
the Qing dynasties. Tuisiyuan which was
constructed at Tongli in the end of the 19th century is one of the most beautiful Chinese gardens.
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