SIFT – The Sage China Connection

Date:  Saturday May 23, 2009  10:30 EDT

From:  Cynthia Ward

Please post.

 

I have only a few minutes before starting our last day in China.  It is hard to believe that we are going home already, yet it seems at the same time that we have been here a very long time because so much has been packed into such a short time.  None of us would change anything and while we are exhausted, we are so grateful for the many incrdedible experiences we have shared.  The group has become a family and we also embrace the many wonderful Chinese people with whom we have interacted as extended family.  All of us are extremely grateful for having shared this extrordinary opportunity.

 

Yesterday we visited Souzhou, an incredidibly beautiful city of  7 million which is about an hour and a half away from Shanghai.  When Marco Polo visited Souzhou in the 13th Centure, he called it the Oriental Venice because of the moat surrounding the inner city, the many rivers and the lakes.  The city boasts 355 small stone bridges, some of them original while other have been restored.  It looks like the China we have all imagined before coming here with no high rises and traditional housing in the area with white walls and black pagoda-like roofs.  This was originally a walled city with the wall of 47 Chinese miles (according to our guide)  with 8 gates, one at the center of each wall and one gate on each of the corners, which in itself is unusual.  The city dates back to 514 B.C.  The city is known as an ancient city, a garden city and a riverside city.  Camphor tress line the streets and it is bordered by the Yangtze River to the north, the East China sea to the east and to the west Lake Tai, which is the source of revered limestone rock formations which are features of many gardens in Chine.  The rocks are limestone and have the most incredible shapes and formations that are riddled with holes.  Empress Ci Xi, whom I wrote about earlier, used them extensively on the grounds of the Summer Palace outside of Beijing.  The tall, skinny ones are the most desirable.

 

We visited Humble Garden which is one of the four most famous gardens in China.  There are four types of gardens in China:  Imperial Gardens for the emporer only, private gardens for the wealthy and public gardens.  Humble Garden is the largest in Souzhou and was created when the governor of Beijing after maany years of service asked the emporer to return to his home in Souzhou.  The emporer wanted to honor the goverrnor, but he said he only wanted to return home and he was very humble hence the name.  This was by far the most beautiful garden of all that we have seen.  Chinese gardens are designed so that each step offers a differnt view.  There are numerous pavillions and chambers throughout and each view is more lovely and serene than the last. 

 

Today is our last full day and we are all off on shopping excursions to bring back items that will remind us of the truly exquisite country this is.  I echo what others have said in being so grateful to everyone who has made this experience possible.

  

Cynthia J Ward, Ph.D.

Sage Graduate Management Programs