The Suzhou Confucian Temple (Chinese: 苏州文庙), also named the Suzhou Stone Inscription Museum and Suzhou Prefecture School (Chinese: 苏州府学; a state-run school), was built by Fan Zhongyan, the Prefect of Suzhou, in 1035 CE. It was the first temple school in China and is notable for containing the four greatest steles of the Song Dynasty. Suzhou, the city of canals and gardens, was called the ‘Venice of the East’ by Marco Polo. An ancient Chinese proverb states: ‘In Heaven there is Paradise; on Earth there is Suzhou’. The city’s love affair with gardens dates back 2,500 years and continues still.

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The Suzhou Confucian Temple (Chinese: 苏州文庙), also named the Suzhou Stone Inscription Museum and Suzhou Prefecture School (Chinese: 苏州府学; a state-run school), was built by Fan Zhongyan, the Prefect of Suzhou, in 1035 CE. It was the first temple school in China and is notable for containing the four greatest steles of the Song Dynasty. Suzhou, the city of canals and gardens, was called the ‘Venice of the East’ by Marco Polo. An ancient Chinese proverb states: ‘In Heaven there is Paradise; on Earth there is Suzhou’. The city’s love affair with gardens dates back 2,500 years and continues still. At the time of the Ming dynasty (1368–1644) there were 250 gardens, of which about a hundred survive, although only a few are open to the public.

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