What does a bowl of noodles taste like when it takes five hours to peel 240 shrimp for topping? What kind of city is it, in today's fast-paced, still pregnant with such delicate, rich and exquisite delicious, so that the taste buds who have waited for a year have been waiting for a long time? The answer: Suzhou.

At the beginning of summer and the tail of the plum rain season, the column "Unpacking China" takes you into the ancient city of Suzhou for thousands of years to taste the most authentic Soviet taste, taste the culture accumulated for thousands of years, and the vibrant Gusu City.

• A bowl of Suzhou noodles blindly Jiangnan rhyme

  
  

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• At the beginning of summer, Taihu shrimp with plump shrimp seeds are subdivided into shrimp meat, shrimp seeds and shrimp brains under the skillful hands of chefs. After steaming, frying, boiling and other processes, it becomes a bowl of bright color, rich and sweet taste of the topping, and then fully integrated with the fine toughness and spring teeth of the Su style noodles, and finally become the southern summer style of the mouth - three shrimp noodles.

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The entire process could take around four to five hours. It really showcased how we, people in Suzhou, constantly pursues excellency when it comes to food and beyond.

In the eyes of the old Suzhou man Zhang Ning, in addition to the three shrimp noodles in early summer, the big meat noodles in summer, the bald butter noodles in autumn and winter... They are all products of Suzhou people's pursuit of delicious food. In Suzhou, which is interlaced with rivers and lakes, the rich products and the eating habits of eating in season make Suzhou people set a meeting for a while in the next season.

From a bowl of Su-style noodles, we tasted the richness of Jiangnan and the millennium prosperity, and also tasted the prosperity of the city, a delicate charm of slow life, and the urban gene of Suzhou people's pursuit of perfection and excellence.

• From Gusu City to Jinji Lake ancient city new look big Suzhou

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• Walking into Suzhou City, you can feel the spirit of Suzhou everywhere.

In the ancient city of Gusu, the double-checkerboard pattern of "water and land parallel, river and street adjacent" and the unique style of "small Bridges, white walls and black tiles" have been completely preserved, which is the result of Suzhou's 40 years of protecting the ancient city to the extreme. In the taxi, the old Suzhou people proudly talked with us about the protection of the ancient city of "repair the old, preserve its true", 2500 years ago, Gusu City is still shining.

The greatest aspects of Suzhou lies in its culture, history, and art -- the art of traditional Suzhou gardens, and the numerous world cultural heritage items.

Suzhou does not stop at the protection and inheritance of culture, but integrates modernization and globalization into the development of the city, forming a new Soviet-style life style with both ancient charm and modern atmosphere.

Echoing the ancient city of Gusu, the new landmark "Gate of the East" is shaped like a bridge linking Suzhou to its modern future. In the China-Singapore Suzhou Industrial Park on its side, nearly 2,500 state-level high-tech enterprises and 62 listed enterprises have gathered, creating a total import and export value of nearly 1.5 trillion US dollars.

Suzhou's total industrial output value above designated size is 4.36 trillion yuan, and about 2% of the country's GDP is created with 0.09% of the country's land. Suzhou is practicing Chinese modernization with the spirit of pursuing perfection and excellence.

Our ancient city of Suzhou, just like the rising sun, is full of vitality.

Producer: Ke Rongyi

Planner: Zhang Shaowei

Coordinator: Chow Xingzuo

Outreach production: Zhou Furong Lu Yujun

Moderator: Zhong Xinkong and Wen Zheng

Editor and Director: Zhong Xinkong and Wen Zheng

Language Consultant: Nathan Keith Williams

Stephanie Stone

Editor: Shang Zhen

Special thanks: Gusu Bridge · Literati Su style Noodle Restaurant