The Chinese have a proverb to describe Suzhou: in heaven there is paradise, on earth there are Suzhou and Hangzhou. That sets the tone for this city on the lower Yangtze, capital of silk and classical gardens, criss-crossed by canals for twenty-five centuries. Cruise passengers usually reach it on an excursion from neighbouring Shanghai, or on river itineraries in the delta region. A day goes by quickly here, so much refinement does the city pack into every square metre.

The classical gardens, the art of the world in miniature

The scholars' gardens, listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, are the main attraction of the call. The Humble Administrator's Garden, the largest, unfolds ponds, pavilions and covered galleries in a composition of clockwork precision. The Master of the Nets Garden, tiny by comparison, proves that a masterpiece can sometimes fit in a courtyard. Each window frames a deliberate landscape, each rock evokes a mountain. These places taught harmony to scholars; they still teach it to hurried travellers.

Pingjiang, the street that runs through the centuries

Pingjiang Road follows its canal lined with white houses with grey tile roofs, in the best-preserved old quarter of the city. You walk among tea stalls, calligraphy workshops and arched stone bridges, while boats glide along the green water. The neighbourhood is best enjoyed early in the morning, when residents do their shopping and the day's deliveries pass from hand to hand. The adjoining lanes hide teahouses where you can sometimes hear pingtan, a local narrative singing style accompanied by the lute, a delicate art born precisely in these neighbourhoods.

Tiger Hill and silk

Northwest of the centre, Tiger Hill bears a thousand-year-old pagoda whose marked tilt has earned it the nickname of China's leaning tower. The site, planted with bamboo and old trees, offers soothing views over the city's rooftops. The city also remains the historic capital of silk: its workshops demonstrate cocoon reeling and weaving before tempting you with scarves and brocades; prices can be politely negotiated. It's hard to leave empty-handed from a city that once dressed emperors.

Port call highlights

The Grand Canal, imperial artery

The Grand Canal made the city's fortune: this waterway, dug over successive dynasties to link the rice-growing south with northern China, remains the longest ever built by humans. Boat rides travel along its ancient banks and the network that runs through the old city. Seen from the water, Suzhou reveals its most authentic face: laundry in the windows, stone steps leading down to the boats, elderly women sorting vegetables by the current. The China of school textbooks suddenly comes to life.

A legacy of elegance

At the end of the day, when the groups disperse and lanterns light up along the canals, Suzhou regains the sense of proportion that made its reputation. The gardens close their round doors, the boats come home, the tea cools in the cups. You leave feeling you have leafed through an album of Chinese painting, and with one certainty: the scholars who chose these places for their retirement knew exactly what they were doing. The next day, Shanghai will suddenly seem in quite a hurry.