Grand Canal

Grand Canal in Suzhou is about 35km long from Hushu Pass to Wujiang City. It is the best part of the Grand Canal for shipping with wide surface, abundant and crystal clear water. On both sides of the bank, white walls and black tiles are dotted in the open green country. The 53-hole Belt Bridge first built in Tang Dynasty lies across the old canal like a rainbow floating on the wave. Marco Polo, who visited Suzhou in the 13th century, wrote that the great Khan... has made a huge canal of great width and depth from river to river and from lake to lake and made the water flow along it so that it looks like a big river. By this means it is possible to go ... as far as Khan-balik (as Beijing was known in the Yuan Dynasty).

The Grand Canal is still heavily used by a great number of flat-bottomed boats under sail and engine power conveying agricultural produce to nearby towns today.