Pingjiang Street（平江路）

Pingjiang Street [Photo by Xu Lin / China.org.cn]

Location: Suzhou, Jiangsu Province

Landscape index: 100 percent

Time to visit: Anytime; best in June and July

Located in downtown Suzhou, Jiangsu Province, Pingjiang Street is a historical road running alongside the Pingjiang River. The street has preserved the city's history and unique features.

There is evidence that the street existed as early as the Song Dynasty (960-1279) and it appears on Suzhou's earliest map, the "Pingjiang Map," as one of the city's main streets during the period. The street runs parallel with the Pingjiang River and has a total length of 1,606 meters. Neither the street nor the river are particularly wide. As a result, they can only be comfortably navigated by rickshaws or row boats respectively. The houses alongside the street and river retain the typical style of ancient Suzhou, with white walls, black tiles and a simple, unpretentious air. A number of water streets near Pingjiang Street have been preserved, especially in the area to the east of the street. People still live in the houses along these streets, maintaining their traditional lifestyle.

For many centuries, the street has been the center of much of Suzhou's cultural life. People may take a leisurely look at the titles on display in a bookstore, or take a rest in a teahouse while viewing a Pingtan performance, which involves telling folk tales and stories as well as singing ballads in the local dialect.

Flowing water, a flagstone walkway, white-and-black houses, small stone bridges, verdant trees and colorful flowers evoke the scenery of a traditional scroll painting and convey how the ancient water town of Suzhou would have looked 800 years ago. Pingjiang Street is just a short distance from Guanqian Street, the city's busiest business center, and is an oasis of ancient calm next to the hustle and bustle of modern life.