Tongli · Jiangsu
Tongli is a Jiangsu water town cut by 15 canals into 7 islets joined by 49 bridges — one ¥100 ticket opens eleven sights including a UNESCO World Heritage garden, and it is 18 km from Suzhou.
The short version
The place itself
Fifteen canals cut Tongli into seven islets and forty-nine bridges stitch them back together. Every house stands on the water and every household keeps a boat; the Ming and Qing houses crowd the banks one after another; the bridges of the Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing are all still standing. It is the pattern the south is famous for, and it won the town its nickname, the little Venice of the east.
The old line about scenery is that it is three parts landscape and seven parts dressing-up. Tongli is the other way round — nine parts scenery, one part dressing-up. What you notice is not any single building but the accumulated weight of the place: you could grab a handful of the air and come away with a fistful of culture. Yu Qiuyu wrote in 'Cultural Travels' that walking into Tongli gives you the strange urge to find a room here and settle.
Its other advantage is that it has been developed less than its neighbours. Zhouzhuang and Wuzhen are now pure attractions; Tongli still works for a living. People are up at dawn and indoors at dusk, and the reward for respecting that rhythm is a town that still feels lived in rather than performed.
It is also the easiest of the water towns to reach from Suzhou — 18 km, a bus every 20 minutes, about 45 minutes — and it pairs naturally with Zhouzhuang an hour away. Stay one night if you can: the town empties after five, and on Friday, Saturday and Sunday evenings there is music by the three bridges.
Pins are plotted from real latitude and longitude on a 5° graticule. This is a schematic orientation diagram, not a political map — no boundaries are drawn.
Built under the Guangxu emperor by Ren Lansheng, a military intendant who came home, and named from a line in the Zuo Zhuan — 'advance and think of loyalty, retire and think of your faults'. At nine mu eight fen, laid out house-west and garden-east because of the shape of the plot, it is the only World Heritage garden among the water towns.
Taiping, Jili and Changqing, set in the shape of the character for 'pin' over the meeting of three canals, with a circular street formed naturally around them. Locals walk the three bridges for weddings and on a sixty-sixth birthday, and say 'peace, good fortune, long celebration' as they go.
A lane so narrow that one person fits and two must turn sideways to pass. High walls, a strip of sky, and at night with no street light a feeling that presses in on you. Gu Changwei filmed the near-miss of 'Love Comes to Tongli' here.
A small island in the lake east of town where Buddhism, Daoism and Confucianism share one site, reached by a five-minute boat ride. City God hall, Wenchang pavilion, Doumu pavilion, a dry-land boat, a zigzag bridge, lotus and fish ponds. The thing to do there is listen to the rain.
Two houses facing each other across the water, and between them the best carving in town: Chongben's crab-eye light wells, which ventilate, light, drain and stop fire all at once, and Jiayin's 'gauze-hat hall', whose bracket-arms carry eight scenes from the Romance of the Three Kingdoms.
Hand-sculled wooden boats work the canals day and night, about forty minutes for a circuit, and you can share one or charter it. Sit in the bow and watch the bank go past, or ask the boatman to teach you the scull — locals do.
Almost everyone comes through Suzhou or Shanghai. From Suzhou the easiest is the shuttle from the square at Suzhou railway station — every 20 minutes, ¥8, about 45 minutes — or the tourist coaches from Wu Zhong station between 06:40 and 17:15. From Shanghai the tourist coaches leave the 80,000-seat stadium and Hongkou stadium at 08:30 and return at 16:30, about 1.5 to 2 hours, ¥120 including the return fare and your first ticket; the long-distance terminal by the railway station and Qingpu coach station both run for about ¥16.50. There are tourist coaches from Nanjing, Wuxi, Changzhou, Zhenjiang, Yangzhou, Hangzhou and Ningbo as well, and driving is straightforward — the Suzhou–Jiaxing–Hangzhou expressway to the Wujiang and Tongli exit.
The town is small and you walk it. A pedicab is ¥5 to get in and ¥15 for a full circuit, which is more than most people need. Battery carts run from the garden to the town entrance and out to the Luoxing Isle ferry — ¥2 from the town entrance to the garden, ¥4 from the garden's back gate to the ferry. Boats are charged by the boat, not by the head: ¥70 for six on the three-bridges route, ¥80 for six on the lake, ¥200 for forty on the big lake boat. Hand-sculled wooden boats take about forty minutes to circle the town.
| Month | Weather | Crowds | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 12°C / 4°C · cool, damp | Quiet | Good |
| February | 14°C / 6°C · cool, damp | Very busy | Good |
| March | 18°C / 10°C · clear and mild | Moderate | Best |
| April | 24°C / 16°C · clear and mild | Moderate | Best |
| May | 28°C / 21°C · cool, damp | Busy | OK |
| June | 32°C / 25°C · very hot, humid | Moderate | OK |
| July | 35°C / 28°C · cool, damp | Busy | Avoid |
| August | 34°C / 27°C · cool, damp | Busy | Avoid |
| September | 29°C / 23°C · very hot, humid | Moderate | OK |
| October | 24°C / 17°C · clear and mild | Very busy | Best |
| November | 18°C / 11°C · clear and mild | Quiet | Best |
| December | 13°C / 6°C · cool, damp | Quiet | Good |
One full day is enough for the eleven sights on the ticket, a boat and a meal — and most people treat it as a day trip from Suzhou. Two days is better: the second night gets you the evening, when the day visitors have gone and the town puts on music by the three bridges on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, and the second morning gets you the mist. A third day buys Zhouzhuang, an hour away, or the forest park at Xiaodian Lake.
Plan these days properly
Nanjing
Jiangsu · 4 tours
Nanjing is the capital of Jiangsu and one of China's four great ancient capitals — capital of six dynasties from 229 AD and of the Republic after 1927
Suzhou
Jiangsu · 4 tours
Suzhou is the classical garden city of the Yangtze delta — founded in 514 BC, still laid out over the canals of the 12th century, and about 30 minutes
Zhouzhuang
Jiangsu · 4 tours
Zhouzhuang is a 900-year-old canal town in Kunshan, Jiangsu, called the first water town of China — more than 60% of its houses are still Ming or Qing
Spring, when the drizzle is continuous and the water town is at its most beautiful — mist, light smoke and evening haze are the three effects the place does best. Tongli works in every season, but if you come at a weekend or a holiday, avoid the 09:00–11:00 crush at the gates.
Yes if you use it. The ¥100 joint ticket covers eleven sights, and if you take your accommodation proof to the ticket centre or the visitor centre at the garden for a stamp it stays valid for two days. Students and over-60s pay half; children under 1.2 m, over-70s, serving soldiers, officers and national press-card holders go free. Your innkeeper can often buy it cheaper than the ticket office.
Take the shuttle from the square in front of Suzhou railway station — every 20 minutes, ¥8, about 45 minutes. Wu Zhong coach station also runs tourist coaches to Tongli every 20 minutes from 06:40 to 17:15. Driving takes about 40 minutes on the Suzhou–Jiaxing–Hangzhou expressway, exiting at Wujiang and Tongli.
It is less developed and more lived in. Zhouzhuang and Wuzhen are now essentially attractions, with the commercialisation that comes with it; Tongli still keeps a working rhythm — up at dawn, indoors at dusk. Visitors who respect that, rather than treating the lanes as a set, get a quieter and more genuine town.
No, though the town is small enough that you can. Pedicabs are ¥5 to board and ¥15 for a circuit of the old town; battery carts link the garden, the town entrance and the Luoxing Isle ferry; and boats are charged by the boat. Different transport gives you different views, so pick by mood.
Very. In the low season you can simply arrive and pick an inn, almost all of which are inside the old town and a few minutes from the sights. At weekends and in high season book online or by phone. If you are worried about finding your inn in the dark, call ahead — many owners will meet you at the coach station.
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