A conversation on a paradise on earth in eight frames

| Once known as the city of silk, Suzhou 苏州 has become the centre of wedding dress production, selling paradise on earth for one day, including copies of the last royal wedding dress, out of shops at the foot of mythic Tiger Hill. Suzhou is also the host of what is known as the Silicon Valley of the East. It has attracted millions of migrants searching for a better future; millions of tourists visit every year to experience the past, strolling through the gardens and courtyards of its Old * Correspondence: Claudia Westermann – Department of Architecture, Xi’an JiaotongLiverpool University, 8 Chongwen Road, Suzhou 215123, Jiangsu Province, P.R.China. Email: Claudia.Westermann@xjtlu.edu.cn DOI: 10.19079/eajp.1.3.95