Figure 1: Location of Suzhou

Suzhou is located on the shores of Lake Taihu in the lower reaches of the Yangtze between 119o55' and 121o20' east longitude and between 30o47' and 32o02' north latitude. The city covers a total area of 8,488 square km with 1,650 square km of urban area. It enjoys a mild and humid climate with an annual rainfall of 1,100 mm, an average annual temperature of 15.7Co. Suzhou has a vast number of ponds and streams. The Grand Canal flows from its north to south, with rivers like Wangyu, Loujiang and Taipu connecting its east and west. Dotting in this chessboard are lakes like Yangcheng, Kuncheng and Dianshan. 90% of the Taihu Lake is within the territory of Suzhou. The natural scenery of hills and waters in Suzhou is as charming as a delicate beauty. Of the whole area, 10 per cent is cultivated fields, 30 per cent hills, and the rest covered with water. The average altitude of Suzhou is 4 meters.

2. Data on Demographic and Related Issues

2.1 Demographic
Suzhou has a population of 5.83 million with 2.12 million in urban area. The main inhabitants are Han nationality, which takes 99% of total population. The main religion here is Buddhism and Taoism. The natives speak Suzhou dialect (Wu dialect), but the government language is still mandarin.

2.2 Tourism
The revenue from the tourism sector totaled 23.596 billion yuan in 2003, up by 19% over the previous year. The city received 815,700 overseas tourists, a decrease of 8.5%. The income from these overseas tourists was 291 million USD, up by 4.5%. The number of domestic tourists was 23.5017 million, increasing by 16.9%. Through tourist agencies 693,400 Suzhounese visited other places, which increased 13.6%. The city carried out the strategy of “Grand Tourism” further perfecting its famous tourism brands of “Three ancient towns and one lake”. It also developed new tourist attractions such as “Tour around the City's ancient canal” and “Dreaming Suzhou ”a large-scale performance of ballet and acrobatics. By the end of 2003 there were 95 star hotels in the city, 5 more than that in the previous year. 20 of them were 4 or 5 star ones and total beds provided by these star hotels were over 20,000. The standardization of tourist sites was in full swing and 13 scenery places were listed as 4A class.