SU-CHOU

also called Wu-hsien, Pinyin Suzhou, or Wuxianconventional Soochow city in Kiangsu sheng (province), China. Su-chou controls the Yangtze River delta area north and northeast of the T'ai Lake. The city is situated to the east of the lake, on the southern section of the Grand Canal. It is surrounded by canals on all four sides and is crisscrossed by minor canals. Su-chou is a place of great beauty, with lakes, rivers, ponds, world-famous gardens, and a string of scenic hills along the eastern shore of T'ai Lake. It also lies at the centre of some of the richest agricultural land in China. The traditional founding date of Su-chou is 514 BC, when a city with the approximate boundaries of the present one was established by the ruler of the state of Wu (Eastern Chou dynasty). Under the Ch'in dynasty (221206 BC), it became the seat of a county, Wu-hsien, and of the K'uai-chi commandery, which controlled most of modern Kiangsu south of the Yangtze and of Chekiang province. The name Su-chou dates from 589, when the Sui dynasty (581618) conquered southern China. With the building of the Grand Canal, Su-chou became an administrative and commercial centre for an area that rapidly developed into the major rice-surplus region of China. Under the Sung (9601279) and the Yan (12061368) dynasties, Su-chou continued to flourish. In the 13th century the Venetian traveler Marco Polo visited it and commented on its splendours. The Sung River and Su-chou Creek gave the city direct access to the sea, and for a while Su-chou was a port for foreign shipping, until the silting of the Yangtze River delta and the irrigation and reclamation works that went on continually impeded access. Under the Ming (13681644) and early Ch'ing (16441911/12) dynasties, Su-chou reached the peak of its prosperity. The home of many wealthy landowning families, it became a centre for scholarship and the arts. Sources of the city's wealth included the silk industry and embroidery. It also served as an important source of commercial capital and a finance and banking centre. From 1860 to 1863, during the Taiping Rebellion of 185064, Su-chou was occupied by the Taiping leader Li Hsiu-ch'eng. Although it was one of the few places in which Taiping reform policies seem to have been effectively carried out, the city was, nevertheless, largely destroyed. Although it was restored in the late 19th century, its commercial supremacy was then challenged by nearby Shanghai. Under the Treaty of Shimonoseki (concluded between China and Japan in 1896), it was opened for foreign trade but without significant results. Before World War II the area was adversely affected by foreign competition, and the silk industry, most of which was on a small handicraft scale, was hard hit. At about this time some modern factories manufacturing satins and cotton fabrics were established, and a large electric power plant was set up, but until the outbreak of the Sino-Japanese War in 1937 there was little modern industry. Su-chou was occupied by the Japanese from 1937 to 1945. The city's first railway, linking Su-chou with Shanghai and with Nanking, was opened in 1908. In 1936 a branch line was built joining this line to the main ShanghaiHang-chou railway at Chia-hsing. There are also highways to K'un-shan and Ch'ang-shu in the delta, to Shanghai, and to Hang-chou. Much traffic, however, still uses the network of waterways. The city is a centre of learning; Su-chou University and Su-chou School of Fine Arts were established in the early 20th century, and later the Southern Kiangsu Technical Institute and a special sericulture institute were established. Su-chou gained a reputation in the late 1950s for its training programs for apprentice workers in traditional handicrafts. An iron and steel plant was set up in the 1950s, but there has been little significant development of heavy industry. Silk and cotton textile industries, however, have been reorganized on a large scale. Su-chou boasts some 150 exquisite gardens with temples, pavilions, and rock sculptures. The Chinese Garden Society, reestablished in 1978, organizes international academic exchanges. Pop. (1986 est.) 710,000.