My First Encounter with the Grand Canal in Wuxi

"You know what? Screw the subway! I'll walk the ten blocks." 

I have been know to say this, and no matter whether I have been in New York City, Shanghai, Suzhou, or Nanjing, I have largely found interesting things because of this. Now, I can add Wuxi to that last. Sometimes, there is no better way to get to know a city by simply putting one foot in front of another and keep a keen eye on your surroundings. This also happened when I said, hmm, I wonder what is down this street? Never mind that after taking the above picture I was chased by three angry poodles. For the most part, I thought this was just an area for old people to drink tea and play mahjong or cards. 

Only, I came face to face with the Grand Canal. This also goes by the Hangzhou to Beijing canal and is the longest artificial river in the world. 

Construction on this waterway started during the Spring and Autumn period, which means this canal is several thousands of years old. It's also interesting to find juxtapositions of this history with modern China both in the new found commercialism and  the construction boom. 

Of course, just like other places in the Middle Kingdom, some of the more traditional looking structures are actually recreations that are relatively new.  The two above bridges cross the canal. The buildings on one side make up a district of night clubs and dance venues. On the other side, it's Wuxi's central rail station. 

Since Wuxi's main transit hub is nearby, a lot of this area is made up to look like a free tourist attraction with lots of bas relief sculptures depicting history. 

These displays are also on the supports beneath many of the bridges over this canal. There is a boat tour, but for the time being, I'm planning to continue exploring this area on foot.  And, of course, that sometimes leads to weirdness. To get to take two of these pictures, I had to leave the walkway. 

And this wouldn't be urban China without its share of weird garbage. 

The Grand Canal is part of an inter connected set of waterways that form a ring in Central Wuxi. So, one of my writing projects, in the long time, is to walk the entirety of this ring. I'm thinking there could be a guide book down the line. But first, I got some exploring to do over the next couple of months.