Suzhou, paragon of China's revitalized old town

Interlaced with rivers and peppered with traditional gardens, the layout of its old town remains largely unchanged from a painting drawn in the Song Dynasty (960-1279). After first visiting Suzhou in 1276, Venetian traveler Marco Polo called it "Venice in the East," smitten by its criss-cross canals and prosperity.

The city is a trailblazer of old town preservation in China. In 1950, shortly after the founding of the People's Republic of China, a committee was set up for the protection of Suzhou's cultural relics.

In the 1980s and 1990s, Suzhou adopted the approach of preserving the old while developing the new. Local authorities also started piloting renovation of the old town.

Since 2012, the old town of Suzhou has significantly expanded its protected area to place more historic buildings, from schools to old factories, under conservation.