The Master-of-Nets Garden and Area of Yaoshan Site

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. The Master-of-Nets Garden

   Suzhou has been famous for gardens for about a thousand years, and the Master-of-Nets Garden is often called the best of them, though it is among the smallest. It was first laid out in the twelfth century by a retired official and rebuilt in the eighteenth, and the name means fisherman, a modest title for a retiree who wanted to live like one. Everything is arranged to make a small plot of land feel limitless. A pond sits at the centre, with halls, pavilions and covered walkways around it, rocks piled like mountains, a zigzag bridge, and views that are framed by windows cut into walls in the shape of fans, moons and vases. One of its courtyards was copied in New York's Metropolitan Museum as the Astor Court.

   Read the complete The Master-of-Nets Garden write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   The Master-of-Nets Garden is where the day begins. Next is Nanxun Section of Jiangnan Canal.

2. 2. Nanxun Section of Jiangnan Canal

   Nanxun is one of the water towns of the Yangtze delta, south of Lake Tai, where life has revolved around canals for more than a thousand years. In the nineteenth century, it became immensely rich through the silk trade, and its merchant families, known by nicknames like the four elephants and the eight bulls, built mansions that mixed Chinese courtyards with European columns, stained glass and Western-style furniture, an unusual blend you will not find in many other water towns. The canal running through the town is part of the Grand Canal, the immense waterway linking Beijing with Hangzhou, which UNESCO listed in 2014.

   Read the complete Nanxun Section of Jiangnan Canal write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Nanxun Section of Jiangnan Canal comes up about 61 km into the recorded legs. Next is Area of Yaoshan Site.

3. 3. Area of Yaoshan Site

   Five thousand years ago, on the plain north of Hangzhou, people built a city with a water system so sophisticated that archaeologists still marvel at it. This is the Liangzhu culture, and the Yaoshan site is one of its most intriguing pieces, thought to be a ritual platform where elites took part in ceremonies and where beautifully worked jades were buried. The Liangzhu people carved jade into discs called bi and tubes known as cong, with delicate, mask-like faces, and these objects were symbols of status and belief. The whole Liangzhu complex has been a UNESCO site since 2019.

   Read the complete Area of Yaoshan Site write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   about 143 km into the recorded legs you reach Area of Yaoshan Site. Next is back through Nanxun Section of Jiangnan Canal.

4. 4. back through Nanxun Section of Jiangnan Canal

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Nanxun Section of Jiangnan Canal write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   back through Nanxun Section of Jiangnan Canal, late in the day. Next is The Master-of-Nets Garden.

5. 5. The Master-of-Nets Garden

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete The Master-of-Nets Garden write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Back at The Master-of-Nets Garden. That is the ride.