Panmen Scenery Area [Suzhou]

This gate ("men" means "gate") is one of the oldest and best-preserved land and water gate in China today. It is as old as the Suzhou city itself, and has been around for about 2500 years. The image of this gate has become a symbol of Suzhou, and is incorporated into the city's logo. Gates such as these were traditionally used to protect the city, and is usually accompanied by a moat. In the picture, parts of the gate has been covered by vegetation (the green walls are parts of the gate). The pagoda in the background is the "Ruiguang Pagoda", see my next tip.

The park has 3 tourist spots: Pan gate, Wu bridge and RuiGuang tower. Pan gate is the only preserved "water-land" gate of the old suzhou city (used to be 6 of them). Although what you see today in the park are mostly new constructions (only the gate, the bridge are still the old, the towel is almost rebuilt), it is a nice place to visit and see about the old citie's gate system. On special occasions, the park opens at night. I went to the night festival of welcoming the god of wealthy (1/5 luna calendar) in that garden and the experience is quite fun. Many suzhou gardens provide night garden options and even performances at night in the gardens. When I was young, the night gardens are only open to foreigners, I don't know how things are now. To me, night garden is a pretty good experience. There is also one of suzhou's finest hotels "Wu Men Shareton"(http://www.sheraton-suzhou.com/about.htm) sits besides the place. The hotel takes on a tranditional look but has advanced services and features. Should be a good stay if your are not on budget travel.

Parts of the old city walls survive, interesting to walk along and admire the pan-men gate. Defences against intruders still appear to be working, watch out!

Panmen Gate was originally built in 514 BCE by Emperor Helu of the Wu Kingdom, but has been progressively enlarged and fortified over the eons. This was the only water and land gate to the city, and was for many centuries where boats loaded and unloaded their wares. Any other city on the planet would have used this historical context to preserve, educate and restore, but in Suzhou they decided that people would rather see flowerpots and grass. The gate itself is built facing along – not across – the canal to provide extra protection from attack. The present inner gate, with its double-storeyed pavilion above, was built earlier than the outer, smaller gate. The gates were restored by Zhang Shicheng at the end of the Yuan dynasty and then substantially rebuilt over the centuries afterwards. The whole gate complex is actually known as the Wengmen because it looks like a 'weng', a huge, narrow-necked Chinese jar. The pavilion above the inner gate is comparatively recent. The outer gate is staggered to avoid a straight attack through the gates, and an internal courtyard would trap attackers, where they could be ambushed from the safety of the top of the walls. Small vertical channels above the main gate would have allowed boiling oil or water to be poured on anyone who got through the courtyard. The water gate also had a double gate, but within one physical structure, with a very small space between the two. A staircase allowed soldiers to go down to water level to check the cargos and to ensure that no enemies were hidden on the boat. The best views of the Panmen Gate can be found on pages 18 and 19 in the book “Old Suzhou” published by Jiangsu Peoples Publishing House in 2000.

With the old neighbourhoods nearby encroaching on the one remaining city gate, this was one of the most atmospheric sites in the whole of China, with the nearby Wumen bridge creating the final touch in a classical urban landscape. Now the gate and bridge stand isolated and orphaned, still attractive but sterile. It is illuminating to read in the classic tour-guides script (“The Sights [sic] of China” by Zhu Qixin, that the section on the Panmen Gate contains just one sentence on the gate itself, and then a further 12 sentences on the ‘improvements’ [sic] to the surrounding area – tree planting, grass you are not allowed to walk on, flowerbeds, ponds created, the number of flower-pots installed (more than 30,000), the ticket sales office, and the interior decorating. There is no mention of the authentic buildings removed over the years, or the entire neighbourhood that has been razed in recent months. Can I suggest that if the Panmen gate, the Ruiguang pagoda and the Keiyuan temple hall (the latter two not even mentioned in the guide book!!) were removed, there would be space for more than 8,000 more flowerpots?

The Ruiguang Ta is one of the few worthy attractions that you might find while touring the Pan Men Gate Scenic Area. It is a 37m high pagoda, dating from 1113. For Y6 you can climb up to the top of the pagoda. Just remember you might find yourself twisting and bending a lot at the top to make it through the stairwell. The views of the Pan Men Gate Scenic Area and the surrounding area are very good.

The Pan men Gate Scenic area is one to the prettier sections of the city of Suzhou. It is the location of the Pan men gate which is a water gate that controlled access to Suzhou along the main canals. The gate and the attached wall are the oldest parts of the city wall that are still standing surrounding Suzhou. They date from 1351. The gate itself was quite interesting as you can see out the gateway worked with a system on wenches. It is in fact scenic. The canal that cuts through the gateway is one of the lovelier spots in Suzhou.

One of the oldest tower gate of Suzhou. It is both a land gate and water gate to the ancient city of Suzhou. The Grand Canal is also a stone's throw away. The garden and buildings inside the Panmen Gate and the wall tower have been rebuilt and looks brand new. a construct to the old remaining part of this tower gate.

“In heaven there is paradise. On earth there are Suzhou and Hangzhou". The gate is the only surviving one of the eight that once surrounded Suzhou. Inside is a beautiful garden (the Sheraton Hotel actually looks out onto it!),and a big lake with typical Suzhou-esque buildings everywhere