Cao and her husband also like having tea and playing mahjong in the city's garden parks. Famous for its gardens, Suzhou offers free access to them for seniors above 70 and half fare to those above 60. A full-price annual pass costs 120 yuan ($17.6).

Sometimes, Cao and her husband travel to the ancient villages around Suzhou, including Zhouzhuang and Tongli, or nearby cities in the Yangtze River Delta, such as Nanjing and Hangzhou, which are about two hours away by bus.

Development and convenience

Zhang Yun, 29, moved to Suzhou in early 2007 when she married a young man who was working in the city. Before coming to Suzhou, she had studied and worked in Beijing for six years. Now, she lives with her husband and nine-month-old daughter in a newly built community in the Industrial Park of Suzhou. The industrial park has hospitals, supermarkets, sports centers and bus routes running to its gate.

Zhang and her husband love going to bars at weekends, although the range of music is limited to disco. If they want to go shopping in department stores, they visit Guanqian Street in the old town. Zhang also takes trips to Shanghai for shopping. "The price of clothes in Suzhou is the same as in Shanghai, but there are few promotions here," Zhang told Beijing Review.

Shanghai is just 30 minutes by fast train from Suzhou. According to Zhang, it takes just one hour from her home to Huaihai Road, Shanghai's most prosperous business area: 15 minutes' drive from her home to the railway station, 30 minutes on the train from Suzhou to Shanghai and 15 minutes on the subway to Huaihai Road. Once Zhang and her husband arranged to meet a relative in Shanghai at a hospital there. It took them just an hour to get to the hospital, while the relative in Shanghai spent two hours in traffic.

According to Shi Bojun, Zhang's husband, because of the convenient transport between the two cities, many companies choose to have offices in Shanghai but set up factories in Suzhou. After the high-speed railway lines between Beijing and Shanghai are completed, with trains stopping in Suzhou, it will take only 15 minutes from Suzhou to Shanghai. "People living in Suzhou will be able to work in Shanghai. I will also consider doing so," Shi told Beijing Review.

Besides Shanghai, Suzhou is also well linked to other cities in the Yangtze River Delta. For example, from Suzhou to Nantong, Jiangsu Province, Shi's hometown, it is just a one-and-a-half-hour drive and a rail link between the cities is being planned. It also takes just one hour from Suzhou to Zhenjiang, Zhang's hometown, by fast train.

While rapid development has brought convenience it also worries Shi. "Suzhou used to be a land of fish and rice, but now it is becoming a large factory and experiencing a process from ecological deterioration to restoration," he said. In his memory, when he first came to Suzhou in 2001, the tap water had no smell, but since 2005 it has smelled of bleaching powder.

Vigor and opportunity

Sanggi Shon, a Korean, has been the Dean of the Suzhou Campus of Daejin University since February 2007. Jointly established by Soochow University and Daejin University in South Korea, the Suzhou Campus of Daejin University offers training courses in Chinese language and culture for students from Daejin University.

Once a student in the United States, Shon had worked as a university professor, financial consultant for multinationals and researcher. His motive for working in China is to nurture Korean professionals to understand China's economy and culture, so as to serve the Korean companies investing in China and promote friendly exchanges between the two countries.

Having been to many cities around the world, Shon is still deeply impressed by Suzhou. "The city is clean and the people are kind," he told Beijing Review. Shon has heard of the famous Chinese saying: "Just as there is paradise in heaven, there are Suzhou and Hangzhou on earth."

Living with his wife and one of his sons in a community along the edge of Jinjihu Lake in the industrial park, Shon loves the beautiful night view across the water. He also thinks that life in the industrial park is convenient. His wife used to return to South Korea for shopping, but now she often picks up clothes at an outlet on the lakeside and buys food from supermarkets in the industrial park. His son is studying at the junior middle school in the industrial park.

His one complaint is price. "The restaurants' Korean dishes in the industrial park are too expensive. They are as expensive as in South Korea," he said.

In his spare time, besides playing tennis and golf, Shon visits Suzhou's garden parks and takes trips to ancient villages around the city. One of his favorite pasttimes is watching dance performances, or listening to traditional Chinese music, performed in the city's parks.

Shon has witnessed China's rapid development in recent years, especially in coastal areas. Many foreign businesses have invested in Suzhou and the city is rife with possibilities. "The opportunities in Suzhou are unimaginable," he said.