★ Tourist location: Suzhou Changshu Shutai Park

Because I wanted to take a shortcut, I chose a small road. I thought it would be impossible to get through, but I didn't expect to accidentally discover that there was a neglected scenic spot next to Shimei Primary School, Shutai Park.

Shutai Park, also known as Reading Platform, is located near Shimei Square at the southern foot of Shandong Province, adjacent to the Changshu City Painting and Calligraphy Institute and Changshu Museum. It was built in 1977. The park is very small and its lintel is inconspicuous, but there are historic sites such as the reading desk of Prince Zhaoming of the Liang Dynasty and Jiao Weiquan.

There is a pair of granite stone lions at the entrance of the park, which are old objects from the original Old Town God Temple. At the entrance is the plaque of the "Reading Desk" written by Qian Chiyun, a Changshu painter. "Snow on Shutai" is one of the eighteen scenic spots in Yushan. It can be seen that the best time to visit Shutai Park is when the snow falls in winter. Unfortunately, the snow in Jiangnan is thin, and it is difficult to see the accumulated snow.

Walking into the park is a moon cave door with the words "Seeking Natural Interest" written on the top. From this, we can guess that the park is dominated by natural scenery, and the traces of artificial axes should not be strong.

The park covers an area of 1.2 hectares, which may include part of Yushan Mountain within the scope of the park. Although it was not built for a long time, the original ancient trees at the foot of the mountain have become towering trees, and wintersweet are dotted at the foot of the mountain. In addition, it is not a popular attraction, so it is very quiet.

The first scene is of course the reading desk, built with mountain mud. It is 3.54 meters high, 14.6 meters long from north to south, and 12.8 meters wide from east to west. I thought that the pavilion on the mountain was a reading platform, but later discovered that the so-called reading platform was actually the entire small mountain. The pavilion is a semi-enclosed rectangle with a single room with a rolling roof. It is 3.65 meters high, 4.6 meters wide and 5.16 meters deep. There is a large stone platform in the pavilion, engraved with "Yulu Garden Notes" written by Ni Liangyao during the Daoguang period of the Qing Dynasty. The original monument was destroyed during the ten years of catastrophe and was broken in two. In 1978, it was copied with the funds of the Yushan Town Public Management Office. The couplet hanging on both sides of the pavilion "There is no summer heat in May and June, but there is the sound of books in a hundred thousand years" was written by Weng Shoucang in 1995 and engraved by Hu Junfu. It turns out that this is still a good place to cool off!

Embed in the wall on one side are steles such as the statue of Prince Zhaoming, the "Inscription of the Reading Platform" and the "Notes on the Reconstruction of Prince Zhaoming's Reading Platform" written by Chen Cha, the Imperial Censor of Qian of the Ming Dynasty. Around the foot of the mountain, there are about twenty ancient trees such as elms, hackles, and cypresses planted hundreds of years ago.

When you get off the reading desk, there is a rectangular arch on one side with the inscription "Zhaohui Mu Tower". Maybe there was another scenic spot here, similar to a tower or something.

There is a group of buildings up the corridor. This is the Temple of Wu Gong. In the old days, Wu Xian, the minister of worship to the Shang Dynasty, and his son Wu Xian, had different pronunciation of the names of the father and son, but the pronunciation of these two words was different in Jiangnan dialect. According to records in the Yi Chronicles, during the Song Qingyuan period, someone dug earth in Qinglonggang in Yushan and found an ancient tablet with the five ancient characters "Shang Xiang Wu Xian Tomb" written on it, so County Magistrate Sun Yingshi built its temple in the room of Yanzi Temple. Later, it was rebuilt in the back mountain in the 29th year of Guangxu and destroyed after the founding of the People's Republic of China. What we see now is rebuilt by the Garden Management Office. However, there are no monuments left now, just as a place for the elderly to drink tea and chat.

After walking around, I found Jiao Weiquan below, so I went back to look for it. It was actually a very small spring. In ancient Changshu County Office, there were seven streams running before and after, like the seven strings of a guqin. In the west, there is a stream that leads to the foot of the mountain, like the tail of a piano. In the Eastern Han Dynasty, Cai Yong was famous for the Qin Jiao Wei, so he named him Jiao Weiquan. The harvest during the Chenghua period of the Ming Dynasty became a scene during the Wanli period. Now that the original stream is gone, the spring cave has become a shallow pool. It is said that the water quality is sweet and crisp. There is a cave next to it, which is naturally formed. The moss lies low. The trees at the entrance of the cave are tall and green, and they do not wither even in winter. Jiao Weixuan was also built because of springs and looks like it was rebuilt in modern times. However, the plaques of Jiao Weiquan and Jiao Weixuan were actually inscribed by Ye Shengtao. Jiao Weixuan was originally called Cangsheng Temple, but it became more famous because of the spring when the park was built in 1977.

Opposite is Shanshui Tower, but it is not open below, so we continued to climb. It is a mountain road. We didn't see anyone else when we walked up. I guess tourists generally won't come here. The old men who usually come here to drink tea and chat have also passed their time for climbing mountains.

There are many stone carvings on the mountain, all of which are ancient characters. They may still be original relics. After all, stones take a long time to weather.

Walking past Wuxian Pavilion is Yaji Pavilion, which was built by Yang Ziqi, the county magistrate during the Hongzhi period of the Ming Dynasty. Nineteen people including Ji Zongdao, the successor magistrate, and Yang Xungu, a celebrity of the Wu Gate, met to sing wine in the pavilion. Ji Zongdao wrote "The Story of the Yushan Elegant Collection Pavilion" respectively, and Shen Zhou painted "The Picture of the Yushan Elegant Collection", which combined the poems and poems of various families and were carved into stone in the pavilion wall, which was once rumored to be a great event in the literary world. Later, the pavilion was destroyed and rebuilt by Jiang Yinpei, a county magistrate of Tai 'an in the 19th year of Jiaqing of the Qing Dynasty. The stone plaque "Yaji Pavilion" was written in official form by Shi Yunyu, the No. 1 scholar of Wu County, and the "Yaji Pavilion Picture" was repainted by Taizhou painter Zhu Henian. However, this pavilion was destroyed again after the founding of the People's Republic of China. What we see now is rebuilt in 1985. It faces north to south and is constructed of granite. It has a square shape on the top of the Xie Mountain, with a surface width of 3 meters and a height of 5 meters. The present monument is also a replica. The original monument has been destroyed, and some rubbings are stored in the Changshu City Museum.

There is a small road further up, which probably leads to Yushan. However, we still have schedule, so we have to go back the way we came.