Suzhou twenty years later

The stone-lined canals of Suzhou, China held my memories for two decades before I returned. As our high-speed train glided into the cavernous new station, I searched for traces of the city I once knew — a city where, as a teenager, I first learned to navigate on my own.

My wife and kids were looking out the window, eager to explore. I, on the other hand, felt a strange double vision. Seeing a place both familiar and transformed. The image of me as a youth bicycling around university courtyards was about to collide with modern reality.

Campus memories

During part of a summer between the 10th and 11th grades, I lived in campus housing at Soochow University, where my father served as a visiting scholar. Each morning, I would join a river of cyclists flowing through the streets. I pedaled to a nearby elementary school where I worked as an English language partner, while my father lectured on campus.

Leica CL · 23mm · f/2 · 1/800 · ISO 100

Leica CL · 23mm · f/2 · 1/1250 · ISO 100

The university felt like a free world then — open gates, manicured lawns, and the chatter of students walking to class. Just outside those open gates, I used to sit near a canal and enjoy lychee from a street vendor.

Leica CL · 18mm · f/2.8 · 1/500 · ISO 100

Two decades later, those same gates stood locked, guarded by a security checkpoint. Where cyclists once dominated, electric scooters and cars now ruled, weaving around the massive construction pit for a new subway station.

Leica CL · 18mm · f/2.8 · 1/500 · ISO 100

Yet, in the quiet side streets, glimpses of my teenage world remained. The elementary school’s courtyard still echoed with children’s voices. To the side of the school remained the bike shed in which I’d park my bicycle daily.

Leica CL · 18mm · f/2.8 · 1/500 · ISO 100

Outside campus

As a teenager, I never ventured far from the university grounds. My world was small — campus housing, dining halls, the Carrefour supermarket, and Guanqian walking street. This time, staying at the Pan Pacific Suzhou, I saw Suzhou through a wider lens.

Leica CL · 18mm · f/2.8 · 1/640 · ISO 100

Leica CL · 18mm · f/2.8 · 1/160 · ISO 100

It offered views I’d never known existed. The hotel’s traditional architecture — complete with a raised gatehouse entrance cars climbed up into — bridge the past and present just as I was trying to do.

Leica CL · 18mm · f/2.8 · 1/640 · ISO 100

Leica CL · 18mm · f/2.8 · 1/320 · ISO 100

Waterways

Twenty years ago, I crossed Suzhou’s many canals daily without a second thought. They were part of the backdrop as I continued to my destination. Now, exploring the Venice-like maze of waterways, I found myself tracing centuries of history.

Leica CL · 18mm · f/2.8 · 1/200 · ISO 100

Leica CL · 18mm · f/2.8 · 1/640 · ISO 100

These weren’t just scenery — they were ancient conduits of commerce that have shaped the development of Suzhou for centuries. As we crossed the bridges and gazed at boats floating below, I began to understand that the waterways are one of the keys to understanding this city’s soul.

Leica CL · 18mm · f/2.8 · 1/1000 · ISO 100

Gardens

As a teenager weaving through Suzhou on my bicycle, I passed the city’s ancient gardens without understanding their significance. Now, returning with my own children, these masterpieces revealed themselves as portals to understanding Chinese culture.

At the Ming dynasty Ruiyuan garden, accessed directly from our hotel grounds, I watched my children trace the same carved stone paths that have guided people for centuries.

Leica CL · 18mm · f/2.8 · 1/50 · ISO 125

Leica CL · 18mm · f/2.8 · 1/50 · ISO 3200

The evening light installations cast modern shadows across classical pavilions, mirroring my own journey here — from an oblivious American teenager to a parent eager to share China’s cultural heritage with the next generation.

Leica CL · 18mm · f/2.8 · 1/50 · ISO 320

In the nearly thousand-year-old Canglang Pavilion, I found myself searching for the perfect composition, Leica in hand. Each frame was an attempt to capture what my younger self had missed. While I slowly walked, my older child ran through the open courtyards and scrambled over rock formations.

Leica CL · 18mm · f/2.8 · 1/400 · ISO 100

Leica CL · 18mm · f/2.8 · 1/500 · ISO 100

Leica CL · 18mm · f/5.6 · 1/80 · ISO 100

Watching him, I realized the difference time makes. He saw the garden as one massive playground. I, on the other hand, imagined scholars in the Song Dynasty walking its grounds, pondering life and art.

Leica CL · 18mm · f/5.6 · 1/160 · ISO 100

Leica CL · 18mm · f/5.6 · 1/50 · ISO 100

Leica CL · 18mm · f/2.8 · 1/50 · ISO 320

Reflections

Suzhou shaped me in ways that I only began to fully understand after returning a second time. That summer as a teenager, when I was first finding independence, the city offered guidance. In the mix of order and chaos, between the structured university campus and the flow of street life, I found my footing.

I began noticing the tonal patterns of the Chinese language, an insight that lead to me to later learn the language. I gained confidence to navigate unfamiliar streets, a skill that guided me in college in New York.

This time around, I watched my children explore some of the same spaces, absorbing their own unique version of Suzhou. They won’t have the same experience I had before — their much younger ages and the locked university gates have seen to that.

The Suzhou of my memory may be partially lost to time. In its place, I’ve found something richer — a deeper understanding of how places grow, changing as we change, revealing new layers with each visit.

Thanks to Q for reading drafts of this.