Suzhou Sculpture

After working for week, I had four days off, so I decided to finally go explore Suzhou and see some of the this beautiful city. One of the schools I work in, requires a fairly long bus ride, and I noticed on the ride a lot of interesting buildings and sculptures along the route, so although the day was overcast I decided to go have a closer look at these interesting pieces of public art. I rode a borrowed bike, and followed the walkways through the parkland beside Jin Ji lake, towards one interesting building modelled after the Olympic Birds-nest stadium in Beijing. This building is the Suzhou Arts & Culture Centre, and is definitely a work of art itself. It is shaped like a huge symmetrical “U” around another glass building called the “Pearl”. The building is surrounded by bronze sculptures of musicians and dancers and other performers. Even some of the seats looking out onto the lake were pieces of sculptures, shaped like the Blue Men Troupe. Not especially comfortable seating however – the nose tend to dig into the back. It is amazing how little this beautiful facility was used; I was practically alone exploring both the grounds outside and the building itself.

From here I continued along the lakeside park, until I was halted by one of the many construction sites – it seems that everywhere something bigger and more impressive is being built. I then rode through an amusement park under construction, and again, the building were going to be as much of an attraction as the rides and pavilions. Like elsewhere in Suzhou, everything is surrounded by beautiful well maintained parks. Even though this attraction has not opened yet, I observed a little old woman sitting and carefully maintaining the extensive gardens.

I was aiming for a series of brightly coloured geometrical sculptures, as a turning point to head back through the pathways and parks on the other side of the roadway. There were four different sculptures in red, blue, green and yellow, blended into little buildings. I could see no indication of what the buildings were for, and they appeared to by unfinished inside. The coloured sculptures certainly called attention to them however.

On the ride back I found tall blue fish, ponds made of man-made coral, beautiful sculptures of women reading, lovely abstract wood and metal rectangles, and cute golden pigs. None of these had any signage, or indication what they were for or about, they appear to be simply there for the population to enjoy. As is often the case, the locals seem to completely ignore them, and I got very odd looks when I was observed photographing them. But then, that is one thing I have noticed here in China – tall obviously foreign men with beards are enough of an oddity that I get stared at wherever I go.

It is amazing how beautiful this bike ride was. I was able to ride through parkland along a lake most of the way down, and once the construction is finished the parkland will extend the whole way, and there was beautiful parks, pathways, and gardens the entire way back on the other side of the road. Remember this is “Suzhou Industrial Park”; it was built to house industry and businesses. We could learn a thing or two from the Chinese about how to design a city.