The saying "there is heaven above and Suzhou and Hangzhou below" obviously has a long history, but currently those who study common sayings can generally only cite later documentary evidence.

Compared The familiar ones are from "Seven Revised Drafts" and "Ancient and Modern Novels", which are already from the Ming Dynasty. In addition, the beginning of the southern Jiangsu folk song "Gusu Scenery" also sings: "There is heaven above, and there are Suzhou and Hangzhou below." But this song is also called "Dajiu Lianlian", which is composed of several folk songs, and the song behind it is indeed about the scenery of the two places: "Hangzhou West Lake, Suzhou has a mountain pond, oh, two good places."

" Obviously it does not have an ancient origin like another famous folk song "The Moon Bends Shining on the Nine Provinces". The latter has been circulating since the Southern Song Dynasty. The poets of the Tang Dynasty set a precedent. The author believes that " The saying "there is heaven above and Suzhou and Hangzhou below" can be traced back to the Tang Dynasty. It can be divided into two halves. The first half compares Jiangnan to heaven. Tang poet Ren Hua once chanted in "Song of Master Huaisu in Cursive Script": "People They say you come from the south of the Yangtze River, I say you come from heaven! "This should be the origin of comparing Jiangnan to heaven.

Before this, Jiangnan was called the "Beautiful Land" because of its prosperity in the Southern Dynasties, and there was no precedent for comparing it to heaven. The reputation of "beautiful land" continued in the Tang Dynasty, and it tended to squeeze other places out of this category? Hangzhou's West Lake is indeed worth visiting, and Suzhou's gardens are also worth seeing, but everyone thinks it is still Hangzhou's. The scenery is better than that of Suzhou, and the modern facilities are better. Next to the West Lake, you can not only visit all the memorial halls and tourist attractions for free, but you can also listen to light music, which is of course a great experience.

,