Puli Town

Puli (甫里) [甫 has two pronunciations, 'fu' and 'pu'. 甫里 is pronounced as Pu-li, not Fu-li.] was the ancient name of the river town Luzhi Township (甪直镇).

Luzhi is located in the Wuzhong District, 18 km east of Suzhou, Jiangsu province, China.

This river town was named after a Tang Dynasty recluse poet Lu Guimong (陆龟蒙) who retired in this town. Lu Guimong had a pseudonym: Mr. Pu-li (甫里先生).

At that time, Puli consisted of two districts: Puli (甫里) and Liuzhi（六直）. Liuzhi meant that there were six straight rivers in the town. In the Suzhou dialect, "liu" was pronounced as "lu", and 六直 pronounced as Luzhi. At the end of the Qing Dynasty, Puli was changed to Luzhi township of Yuanhe County.

Luzhi was reputed to be the Venice of the East, famous for its beautiful waterways and ancient bridges, some of the bridges dated back to the Song Dynasty. A walk in the ancient town Luzhi is said to be a walk into history frozen in time, tranquil and serene.

The Ming Dynasty poet Gao Qi (高启) poem : "Scene of Puli" is still an accurate description of the scenery in the ancient town Luzhi today::Scene of Puli:"Long bridge short bridge with willows":"Front stream rear stream with lotus":"People watching banner over wine store risen":"Seagulls escort boat to home of fishman."

In 2003, the Chinese government published a list of "Ten Famous Chinese Historical Townships". Luzhi is on this list.

In 2004, Luzhi together with Tong Li and Zhouzhuang were listed in the tentative list for UNESCO World Heritage Sites( #1524) [ [http://whc.unesco.org/en/tentativelists/1524/ #1524] ] .With the rapid modernization of China, large number of historical towns disappeared under the bulldozers, with only a handful of well preserved historical townships remaining today. In 2004, Luzhi was awarded a Township Preservation Awardby UNESCO.

Sights

* Baoshen Temple. Baoshen Temple boasts a history of thousand years, built in the second year of Tianjiang of Liang Dynasty (503 AD). By Song dynasty it was called the Baoshen Zen Temple, with 5000 halls and one thousand monks.

:The Arhat statues in the Baoshen Temple are national treasures. They were the work of the Tang Dynasty sculptor Yang Huizhi.

* Tang Dynasty poet Lu Guimong tomb, with Fare Breeze Pavilion and two of his hand planted ginkgo trees.
* Shen Bohan (沈柏寒) the educator's former home
* First refomer Wang Tao (王韬) Memorial Hall
* Educator and writer Ye Shengtao (叶圣陶) Memorial Hall, at former site of The 5th High School where Ye Shengtao taught from 1917 - 1922.
* Hong Kong movie star, best actress winner of 1995 Berlin Film Festival Josephine Siao Fong Fong (萧芳芳) Performing Art Hall.

Food

* Puli Trotters and Puli duck: Two dishes in Luzhi township are Puli trotters (甫里蹄) and Puli duck (甫里鸭). They are said to be prepared according to the recipe of poet Mr. Pu-li; he often treated guests with these two dishes.

* Luzhi Radish (甪直萝卜) - a pickled radish prepared according to a Qing Dynasty recipe

Famous people of Puli

* Lu Guimong (陆龟蒙) - Tang Dynasty poet, pseudonym: Mr. Puli.
* Pi Rixiu (皮日休) - Tang Dynasty poet, contemporary of Lu Guimong
* Gao Qi (高启) - Ming Dynasty poet
* Wang Tao (王　韬) - Qing Dynasty reformer, writer, newspaper publisher
* Ye Shengtao (叶圣陶) - prominent novelist and educator.

Transportation

* buses between
**Luzhi and Suzhou, route 18.
**Luzhi and Kuenshan
**Luzhi and Shanghai.
* Steam boats between
** Luzhi and Suzhou
** Luzhi and Kuenshan

External links

* [http://www.travelchinaguide.com/attraction/jiangsu/suzhou/luzhi.htm Luzhi town]