Suzhou was founded around 500 B.C. by a wise king named Helu. He named his kingdom Wu, so Suzhou is also called WuJun(city of Wu). When his grandson, Fucha, became the king, the kingdom of Wu had been quite strong. Fucha conquered a neighbouring kingdom, Yue, and imprisoned the king of Yue. The king of Yue wasn't ready to give up. He asked his Prime Minister to find a beautiful woman and gave this woman to Fucha as a thophy. Fucha was totally charmed by this woman and listened to everything she said. This finally lead to the
rebuilt of Yue and destroy of Wu. The people in Suzhou, however, didn't hate the woman. They built a garden on the hill she used to play with Fucha in memory of her. They also told stories to their next generations. These stories are all about her beauty, her cleverness and how she escaped with her lover to the great lake and lived a happy life. This is the way that I heard the stories when I was a kid.

Many years passed, no other king picked Suzhou as their capital anymore. There were lots of scholars, poets and painters born in Suzhou, but never a high-ranking offical. Maybe Suzhou is just a little too tiny and pretty for an ambitious person.

Anyway, people live in Suzhou are happy. We speak a dialect quite different from mandarine, which is soft and sweet. We make very good silk(one of the best in China). We also make beautiful embroidery. People named it SuXiu(embroidery of Suzhou) because of its unique needle-work. Among them, the double-faced embroidery is the best. The thing made in Suzhou I love most are light refreshments. We call them "dianxin" ("a drop of heart"). They look pretty and taste just wonderful.

In recent ten years, the government worked hard to make Suzhou look modern. They broadened the narow streets, dismantled old houses and biult high buildings. But I don't think that the combination of classic beauty and the modernization works. I always remember the days when I caught fishes in the river near my house, the water was so clear then; the days when I ran through a yard filled with flowers to catch a butterfly; the days when I walked on those narrow streets, the walls on both sides were so high and green , covered with Chinese ivy. I believe that is the city in the dreams of many Chinese people who have heard of but never been to Suzhou before. Because that is the city appeared in my dreams after I left it, and I will remember it like that forever.