Suzhou (12/17/08)

Ancient Suzhou is famous for its canals and is often referred to as the Venice of the East. What many people do not know is that it is also the host of one of China's more ambitious modernization efforts. The Singapore-Suzhou Industrial Park is going to be the nucleus of perhaps one of the most technologically modern cities in the world (at least that's how it was portrayed), essentially trying to duplicate Silicon Valley but on a larger scale. It was this part of Suzhou we saw first, and I personally was floored by what I saw. Old Suzhou, was nice too, but it was certainly no Venice.