Foreword
and Qing Dynasties...
After an elapseo fover two thousand years，Suzhou has growninage．Never the less，as she is entering the 21st
century，she is still vibrant to the people with an appealing，quaint look of elegance．
SUZHOU was by nomeans the only ancient city of at traction back in the early 20th century，when numerous
ancient capitals and well-known cities could tell of the long course of Chinese civilization with their unique
features of history and culture．
These cities，however，have gradually over the century changed their outlook and lost their past glories as
the result of wars and upheaval and the later economic reconstruction and urban development，which brought about
great social changes and transformation．Today，when we look at these cities at the turn of the century，we
find Suzhou just as elegant and quaint with nostalgic appeal．
Here，we see the same city walls，the gate towers，the old streets and canals running on parallel in the fonn
and pattern that has existed on the same premises for over two thousand years and survi Vedtothis day in spite
of the ups and downs of the past，so that SUZHOU still imparts at ouching air of antiquity and grace．
Like other ancient cities，Suzhou has traveled a long and tortuous path．Apowerful and prosperous prefecture
of nationalfame in the Southern Yangtse Valley，Suzhou distinguished itself as early as the Tang and Song
Dynasties．Yet repeated cataStrophes befell the city：the agglession by the south-bound armies of the Jin State，
the occupation by the Mongols，the defeat of the peasant emperor Zhang Shicheng in Suzhou，the bloodshe dupon
the capture of the city by the Qing troops，and the civil war during the Xianfeng Reign of the QingDynasty，etc，
which left Suzhou in mins on as corched land．Although it managed to recover every time，it has never been the
once majestic metropo1is with an ostentatious air．Since then，the old SUZHOU has remained the humble home of
scholars and common folks in quiet streets and alleys．Life here became simple and unextravagant and the locals
honest and well mannered，which fostered a cultural temperament characterized by quiet charm and simple antiquity．
He vicissicitude of the ancient city has innicted countless wounds on Suzhou，the very cadle of Wu culture．
In its alleys have appeared generatns after generation of people，and then disappeared from the same scene．
Things have remained，but people have changed，leaving a whole repertoire of culural relics scattered all over
the streets and alleys and classical books and records for later generations to trace their foot steps．The
culture of Suzhou，so forged by previous generations，has thus become so profound，mellow, and impressive．
When we look at the ancient city at the end of the present century，the ebbs and flows of a hundred years are
almost gone，but histStory will neve forget how we have drawn our steps this far．
Considering Suzhou's vast history of two and half millenniums，a hundred years are not counted as too long
aperiod，but not too short because it is the crystallization o f the lives of several generations．
As time advances，Suzhou is already on the thresh old of the 21st century．Many of the things we use to possess
will belong to a bygone age，but in old Suzhou，they will last on and on since the current album represents a
whole century's memoirs，which are branded in the heans of our dear folks．
History is like an endless now of river．We believe that the album 01d Suzhou，which is composed of a good
number of historical photos，will stir up emotion all responses in the minds of the contemporaries and
generations to come．
The people are an etelnal theme，and so is their hometown．
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