As many avid readers know, I spend a fair amount of time in the "small water town" of Wuxi (population: 6.3 million) due to two primary factors:
- Work takes me there fairly often, and more importantly,
- Cherry's family lives there
After having spent several years of our lives living and traveling through China, I've come to appreciate the history of places such as Beijing, with its impressive imperial heritage, Shanghai, with its glamorous early 20th century history, Chengdu, with its strong "Kingdom of Shu" (of Romance of the Three Kingdoms lore) identity, and Xi'an, with its glorious Qin and Tang dynasty roots.
What I failed to appreciate was how much culture Wuxi had to offer as well. In fact, it wasn't long ago that I commented to a number of my friends how Wuxi is a city without the "soul" that so many other cities in China emanate. Sure, there is the Great Buddha of Lingshan, but as impressive as it is, it's little more than a heavily commercialized Buddhist theme-park. There's also Lake Tai, but recent algae blooms due to the heavy pollution have really damped the appeal of what once was probably quite a beautiful lake.
The problem seems to be that I simply wasn't looking hard enough. Or possibly at all. Because Wuxi's top attractions are all quite strikingly beautiful, especially during the Spring. So, this past Spring Break (for the kids), we took a few days to explore what we've been missing all these years!
Our first stop was Xihui Park (锡惠公园) and nearby Mt. Hui (惠山). Xihui park is situated between Mt. Xi (more of a hill, with a pagoda on top) and the much higher but still not really a mountain Mt. Hui. The natural scenery here is quite beautiful, as seen below:
 |
| The pagoda on Mt. Xi can be seen in the background |
 |
| Panoramic view of the city from the top of Mt. Hui |
 |
| A small temple |
 |
| Peach blossoms |
 |
| Chinese Qin |
|
While the natural scenery in Xihui park was quite pleasant, the history of the area was even more interesting to me. Nearby Mt. Hui Ancient Village (惠山古镇) is home to a series of private gardens and the so-called Second Spring Under Heaven, historically the subject of a famous song of ancient Chinese musician Abing, the blind erhu-ist. Many of the buildings in the area were first constructed over 1000 years ago during the Song dynasty - and while they have clearly gone through some restoration, they don't look quite as pristine as the historical buildings of Chengdu. In my opinion, Wuxi's approach helps to contribute to a more genuine ambiance while keeping things clean by modern standards. |
 |
| Jichang Garden |
 |
| Second Spring Under Heaven |
 |
| Vajrapani, of Shaolin lore |
We spent one of our evenings in Wuxi's centralized cultural area called Nan Chang Jie (南长街), a semi-restored portion of Wuxi located around its system of canals. Today, its an area chock full of small eateries and trinket shops, but it also features some interesting historical exhibits, such as a a cool sword exhibit hidden away in one of the back alleys that we discovered!
 |
| Snack alley. Lots of clams eaten here. |
 |
| One of Wuxi's waterways, lit up at night |
Our final Wuxi destination was the second-tier "Rong Family Plum Garden", or "荣家梅园". It's second tier status is merely reference to the fact that locales such as the Great Buddha of Lingshan and Turtle Head Peninsula are more famous and heavily visited. But once again, in my opinion, the Plum Garden (or Meiyuan) offers more than meets the eye. The garden was once the residence of an influential business family, the Rong's, who had a taste for plum blossoms. Incidentally, our visit came a few weeks too late to see what would have been incredibly beautiful groves of plum blossoms - instead we had to settle for peach blossoms and tulips, which are also plentiful in the park. Having been to some of Suzhou's world class gardens, I almost prefer Meiyuan due to its more outdoorsy environment (most of Suzhou's gardens are enclosed, focusing on man made structures. See for yourself below:
Certainly a beautiful place to spend a weekend! My faith in the city of Wuxi is restored!
