Richard Steel
& Partners
The Family Owned
FUNERAL DIRECTORS
ยงยงยง
Serving the Alresford
community since 1860
12-14 City Road, Winchester
(01962) 862333
www.winchesterfunerals.co.uk
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Richard Steel
Iain Steel
Personal 24 Hour Service
Winchester
Bereavement
Support
WBS: Helping people to
come to terms with grief
and loss and to move
forward with their lives.
Tel: 01962 863626
A confidential free service
18
A ROOKIE
WESTERNER IN
CHINA
Suzhou
Suzhou and Hangzhou are the two cities in
China that have been described as 'heaven
on earth'. Regarding the former, I beg to
differ.
A day trip out of Shanghai to Suzhou
involved a half hour high-speed train journey
through the industrial inner and outer
suburbs of both cities. Suzhou is a quarter of
the size of Shanghai with a population of just
over six million. It supposedly resembles
Venice, with a web of canals, elegant
pagodas and historic gardens woven into its
landscape. Unfortunately, however, intense
urbanisation has mired the city's ancient
aesthetics and hence it is now hard to
distinguish where the supernatural elements
of Suzhou still exist. Gardens that were once
oases of tranquillity and soothing beauty are
now bullied by the turbulent sounds of trains
running past and the harsh glare from highrise office blocks looming overhead.
Suzho