Suzhou's other name is the Chinese Venice, because of its canals network crossing and surrounding the city. Like Hangzhou, it is one of the two traditional earth paradises in China. The city is also famous for its gardens, which used to be private ones and today available to the public. Products of their masters' passion, these gardens all have a different personality. Nowadays, some parts of the old city are totally replaced by modern buildings, but walking in the heart of the historical part of the city makes hardly believable it is actually Shanghai's suburbs.