In the lower reaches of the River Yangtze, on the shores of Lake Taihu, lies the 2,500 year old city of Suzhou. When the Grand Canal between inland Peking (as it was then) and Hangzhou on the South China Sea was built, Suzhou - roughly midway - found itself in a position of huge strategic importance. The main artery between northern and southern China was used to transport grain and other commodities, as well as being a conduit for cultural exchange and political integration. The city - sometimes called the "Venice of the East" - is renowned for its maze of canals, spanned by stone bridges and graced by pagodas and gardens designed by Ming and Qing gentry. Renowned for its historical and cultural heritage as well as for its immense natural beauty, since the days of the Song Dynasty (960-1279), Suzhou has also been a major centre for China's silk industry, a position it continues to hold today.