Tongli, an ancient town in Suzhou

Tongli Ancient Town is an hour drive from Shanghai. Having a history of over 1,000 years, it is characterized by stone bridges and well preserved ancient architectures which include temples, houses and private gardens. As there are many small rivers crisscrossing the town, bridges play an important role to Tongli. Among the 49 bridges, the most famous three are the Taiping (peace) Bridge, Jili (luck) Bridge and Changqing (celebration) Bridge, which are regarded as sacred architecture by the locals. [China.org.cn/Photo by Sun Tongchao]