Su-chou

In the neighborhood of the present railway centre of Hsu-chou-fu where the Tientsin-Pukow line crosses the Lung-hai line there were good potteries at Hsiao-hsien, Su-chou and Ssŭ-chou. Those at Su-chou seemed to have produced more and better ware than those at the two other centers. In the Palace Museum there are several examples of vases and bowls made in Su-chou which are good imitations of Ting ware but it is of die t‘u ting variety.

Our guide surprised us by refraining from exploiting it for propaganda purposes. In fact, she seemed to take a genuine delight in all the gardens of Su-chou- a fact which may explain why we saw so many of them. Not once did she say so much as a word about the decadence of life under the emperors.

Advancing on a broad front the Japanese captured Su-chou on 20 November.