Once the site of bustling local trade in silks, wood, and grain, this temple, repeatedly burned down and re-built, was named after the poet-monk, Hanshan, who lived in the 7th century. Located in Maple Bridge town in the west outskirts of Suzhou, only 1 kilometer west of the Lingering Garden, it was first built in the Tianjian period of the Liang Dynasty (502-557) with the name of Miaolita Yuan (Miaolita Temple). During the Tang Dynasty (618-907), Hanshan was said to have lived here and was the temple's caretaker. The temple was later renamed after him.

The temple used to be one of the ten most famous temples in China. The poem, "A Night Mooring by Maple Bridge" by Zhang Ji, a famous poet of the Tang dynasty, is so oft-quoted and widely loved that the poetic rhyme and the bell-tolling sounds have made Hanshan Temple celebrated at home and abroad.

Destroyed and rebuilt for many times, the present complex mainly dates from the Qing dynasty at the time of Emperors Guangxu and Xuantong. Covering an area of 45 hectares, the main architectural structures in this temple include the main hall, the hall with a circular gallery, the sutra library, the bell tower, a pavilion tower known as Maple River Tower, and many more.

The Bell Tower is an important component of Hanshan Temple. The bell mentioned in Zhangji's poem has long been lost and the present one was made in 1906 during the Qing Dynasty. When the bell is tolling, the deep strokes that echo in the halls mix with the deep-toned chants of the monks evoking both a solemn and reverent feelings for all worshippers in the temple.

According to Buddhist legend, each layman has 108 kinds of annoyance per year and each bell tolling can help people dispel a kind of annoyance. Hence, listening to the bell tolls of Hanshan Temple on New Year's Eve has been a grand occasion since 1979. During New Year's Eve, thousands of visitors at home and abroad gather inside and outside of the temple to listen to the one hundred and eight bell tolls, praying for luck and happiness in the New Year.

There are cultural relics including a stone tablet inscribed with the poem "A Night Mooring at Maple Bridge" by Zhang Ji, stone carvings and a large number of steles inside Hanshan Temple.

Tiger Hill (Hu Qiu) is the most famous sight of Suzhou, with old trees and cultural relics everywhere-- the Sword Testing Stone, the Broken Beam Hall, the Thousand Men Rock, the Sword Pond, etc. The millennium-old Yunyan Pagoda, also known as the Leaning Tower, stands on top of the hill and is regarded as the symbol of Suzhou.

This is the smallest garden in Suzhou, only one tenth the size of Zhouzheng Yuan. It is so small, you might think that Tiger Hill is actually an artificial hill. It is 36 meters high and is set in a 20-hectare park. Near the top of the hill is the burial place of the founding father of Suzhou, King He Lu, who died in 600 B.C. It was said that a white tiger occasionally appeared to guard the tomb; hence the name for the hill.

The sword-testing stone is of great interest. It has a split within it, said to be cracked by He Lu, who tested all his swords on the stone. According to legend, the king was buried with 3,000 swords; 1,000 builders were killed after building the tomb so that the secret of the swords would not be revealed.

Another landmark is the Tiger Hill Pagoda. It has been leaning since its completion in 961 A.D. In the 20th century, it finally split and had to be re-stabilized. The tilt has now reached over two meters. Concrete piles have been driven into the ground around the pagoda in order to reinforce the foundation.

Located in the northeastern part of Suzhou city, Humble Administrator's Garden, with a total area of 51,950 square miles, is the largest private garden in Suzhou, as well as one of the four most famous classic gardens in China (the others are: Summer Palace, Mountain Resort of Chengde and Garden for Lingering In in Suzhou). Around 1513, during the Ming Dynasty, the imperial inspector Wang Xianchen, returned to Suzhou after retiring from public life and built his garden. The name Humble Administrator's Garden was inspired by the essay 'To cultivate my garden and sell my vegetable crop is the policy of humble man'.

The garden is representative of Chinese classical gardens in the Ming Dynasty, which are focused on a central pond with pavilions, terraces, chambers, and towers located nearby. Humble Administrator's Garden is divided into three parts: the eastern, middle and western parts.

The middle part is the cream of the garden with marvelous mountains, clear water, exquisite buildings and exuberant trees and flower reminiscent of the scenery in the south of the lower Yangtze River. Elaborately conceived, the designer of the garden used the architecture technique know as 'borrowed view from afar' in the layout of this part, aiming to enlarge eyeshot within a limited space. Seen westward, a pagoda would be seen sitting in western garden, which actually is situated 1km away from the garden.

The buildings in the western part of the garden are properly arranged by the lake, in which the Hall of the Thirty-Six Mandarin Ducks and the Hall of Eighteen Camellias are most important. Both halls are furnished with ancient furniture, paintings and calligraphies hung on the wall, embodying the leisurely life of the master. To the end of west garden lies a bonsai garden, where about 700 bonsais are put on display, which is worthy of visiting.

The garden is divided into three sections: a residential section, the central main garden and an inner garden. The main garden has a large pond that is surrounded by pathways and a variety of buildings such as the Ribbon Washing Pavillion, and the Pavillion for the advent of the Moon and Wind. There are many more buildings that are situated so that there is never a sense of crowding, but always of spaciousness. As is common in Suzhou gardens, the pond has a small pavilion in it. Here the pavilion is accessible by a bridge that is less than one foot wide.

As you walk about the gardens and along the walkways, there are often views through windows onto beautiful flowers or plants framing them from a distance and drawing you to a single sight, a moment of peaceful natural beauty. As you walk through the buildings, it is easy to imagine the life that the original residents lived in a feudal society where these gardens were solely for their pleasure and the pleasure of their guests. The various buildings are constructed so that you can always access the main garden from any room. The rooms themselves are quite impressive in design and ornamentation and well represent the style of the Song Dynasty.

The inner garden which is only about 660 square feet, has the distinction of being used as the model for the Ming Hall Garden at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City and also completely miniaturized for an exhibit in the Pompidou Center in Paris in 1982. This garden is reputed to be the most well-preserved garden in Suzhou and should not be missed. It is small in size, but is like a beautifully cut diamond whose beauty is of never ending fascination and pleasure.

The Lingering Garden (or "garden for lingering in") is one of the largest gardens in Suzhou, extending over an area of 3 hectares. It is celebrated for its artistic way of dealing with the spaces between various kinds of architectural forms, illustrated most vividly by the careful and precise placement of windows along covered walkways, designed to provide selected perspectives. Buildings make up one third of the total area of the garden, the hall of which is the most remarkable in Suzhou. The garden is separated into the middle, eastern, northern and western parts. The ancestral temple and the house lie to the south of the garden.

Featuring man-made mountains and lake scenery in the west and garden courts in the east, the middle part of the garden is the original site of the Xu East Garden and the Liu Hanbi Villa, and is regarded as the best part of the whole garden. The eastern, northern and western parts are the extensions of the Sheng Garden. The eastern part is noted for its strangely shaped limestone, the northern part idyllic scenes, and the western part the delights of woody hills.

A winding roofed walkway behind the small entrance of the garden, while leading to the places of quietude, shows the masterly use of contrast between big and small, straight and zigzag, and light and shade. After strolling for about 50 meters, one can catch a glimpse of lattice-windows revealing a half visible landscape garden behind. Interestingly, the view is changing at every step.

The middle part of the garden is centered upon a lake with a man-made mountain in the northwest and a number of attractive buildings in the southwest, such as the Hanbi Mountain Villa, the Pellucid Tower, the Green Shade Pavilion, the Zigzag Stream Tower, the Hao Pu Pavilion, and the Refreshing Breeze Pavilion. The mountains are made mainly of yellow stones and earth and are believed to be designed and constructed by Zhou Binzhong. The admirable Crane House, the Small Garden of Stone Forest, the Return-to-Read Study in the east, with the Celestial Hall of Five Peaks as the chief structure, are laid out in such a way that the indoor spaces have been brought into perfect harmony with the outdoor spaces. With an evocation of infinity, they are successfully made to be labyrinthine and beautiful.