PHOTO: Visitors to the Humble Administrator’s Garden, the largest garden in Suzhou, can enjoy a tea-tasting with help from a “tea artist.” (All photos courtesy of Travel Suzhou)

Think you have a client open to experiencing another side of China, someone interested in seeing more than the usual tourist spots? Suzhou (pronounced Sue-Joe) is one place in the country that promises to deliver something different, with ancient waterways, sprawling public gardens and ultra-modern hotels scattered throughout a city dubbed the “Venice of China.”

Located in the southeastern part of China near Shanghai, Suzhou’s claim to fame is rooted in the water that traverses its streets, with gondola-like boats navigating centuries-old stone bridges. Just a short drive away, however, there’s a much more modern city emerging in Suzhou Industrial Park. Glass skyscrapers dominate the skyline as European-style restaurants tempt locals and tourists along with one of the largest Ferris wheels in the world.

It’s all part of the appeal of Suzhou, which offers travelers a mix of old and new. Here’s how to sell this cultural hub hungry for North American travelers:

Enjoy a new type of Chinese food: Don’t expect to see sesame chicken and moo shu pork on the menu here. Those looking for a real taste of Suzhou’s cuisine — a land of fish and rice — should spend a day in the historical district and visit Shantang Street (No. 218, Guangji Road). There they will find Song He Lou, where diners munch on tiny fresh-water shrimp, tofu with crabmeat, Chinese-style pickles and green rice cakes filled with red bean paste for dessert.

The restaurant, which overlooks a bridge and waterway, is an ideal stopping point for travelers looking to explore the neighborhood or try some squirrel-shaped Mandarin fish — a fried, orange-colored dish with a sweet-and-sour sauce that’s a staple of this region. For lunch, you can expect to pay around $20 to $25 per person. Afterwards, visitors can stop at the Qian Sheng Yuan candy shop, which sells different preserved plums and pastries, and then take a ride on a local version of a gondola.

Sample the new China, skyscrapers and all: At the heart of Suzhou is the old town district, the layout of which has remained largely untouched over 2,500 years. Here visitors can enjoy pagodas, temples, waterways and teahouses in one of the oldest cities in the Yangtze Basin. There’s also a significant portion of the Grand Canal to explore, which is the longest manmade waterway in the world.

For a completely different experience, head to Suzhou Industrial Park, a budding metropolis built largely in the past two decades. At its core is Jinji Lake, which is surrounded by hundreds of high-rise buildings and a massive Ferris wheel that seats up to 360 riders.

The roughly 30-minute ride isn’t particularly exciting and the amusement park doesn’t have anything that’s all that different from other such parks, but the wheel does give visitors a sense of the ongoing expansion in one of the country’s fastest-growing cities. Nearby, there’s also a cultural convention and exhibition center, luxury shopping and luxury hotels.

Enjoy tea in a garden unlike no other: Suzhou is known for its gardens, many of which have been designated UNESCO World Heritages Sites. Even if you’re not the biggest fan of flora, the summer and fall months are prime times to visit, with lotus flowers and lilies coming into bloom. The Humble Administrator’s Garden (No. 178, Northeast Street) is the largest classical garden in the city and is considered by many to be the best. It covers some 550,000 square feet and dates back to the Ming dynasty (1368-1644).

Altogether there are 48 different buildings, 40 monuments and numerous winding streams scattered throughout three sections — eastern, central and western. The central part of the garden, which is considered to be the “essential area,” is full of ponds, flowers, pavilions and courtyards. Tickets cost about $11 to $14 depending on the season. There’s also an option for groups to enjoy a traditional tea-tasting overlooking the garden with help from a “tea artist,” who makes different brews, including green tea you can get only in Suzhou.

Another popular spot to check out is The Lingering Garden. It’s about half the size of Humble Administrator’s Garden, making for a more manageable visit that can either take an afternoon or morning. Lingering Garden (No. 338, Liuyuan Road) is famous for its maze of halls and buildings, providing visitors with different perspectives from which to take in the flowers and animal-shaped rock formations found throughout the garden. Admission is about $8 with an additional fee for those visitors who want to take a floral arrangement class.

Find accommodations for all budgets: From budget to luxury, there are roughly 100 hotels scattered throughout Suzhou. Visitors can pick from a roster of local and international brands, such as Crowne Plaza, Hyatt, Marriott, Shangri-La and InterContinental. New properties are also scheduled to open in the next four years, including W Suzhou, Westin Suzhou Xiangcheng and Fairmont Suzhou. Pan Pacific Suzhou (www.panpacific.com/suzhou) is noteworthy because it offers special access to a city gate and pagoda, where guests can see locals doing Tai Chi every morning. The hotel features classic local architecture, high-speed Internet access (though some U.S. websites are blocked) and close to 500 rooms and suites. Basic rooms start at roughly $80 per night.

Visitors interested in a more boutique experience can sample the Tonino Lamborghini Boutique Hotel Suzhou (www.tlhotelsgroup.com) overlooking Jinji Lake in the more modern part of town. The hotel features Chinese gardens along with some quirks, including Beatles lyrics inscribed on the floor.

There’s also Danny’s Kitchen, which serves up French and Italian Mediterranean cuisine, providing a nice break from some of the heavier local foods. Rooms start at around $200 per night.

Experience the Silk Road at work: The No. 1 Silk Factory (www.1st-silk.com) offers an inside look at the silk-making process, a custom that dates back millennia. Free of charge, the factory shows visitors how silk is harvested, from worms to cocoons. The best time to check out the process is during the summer months through October, when you might actually see some real silk worms. But if the worms are not in season, visitors can still watch workers use silk to make quilts and clothes. The tour concludes near a shop selling scarves, pillows, duvets and other reasonably priced souvenirs.

Get outside Suzhou with a daytrip to a water town: Roughly 11 miles outside of Suzhou is Tongli, one of six famous ancient water towns. Tongli is known for its brooks and small footbridges, which are regarded as sacred by locals. There are also hundreds of gardens, temples, mansions and former homes of dignitaries built during the Ming and Qing dynasties.

PHOTO: Suzhou’s ancient waterways are part of the reason why this city is called the “Venice of China.”

Visitors can take a daytrip by bus to the town and then walk around the neighborhood, where shops sell souvenirs and desserts and streets are lined with lanterns. While in town, visit the Wormwood Institute, which offers a traditional Chinese medicine practice of burning of wood inches from the skin. There’s no standard charge for the treatment and the cost depends on the condition of each patient.

Sell something familiar but quite different: While many of the cultural artifacts inside the Suzhou Museum (www.szmuseum.com) might seem foreign to visitors, the Chinese-born architect who designed the property is quite familiar. The museum is said to be the last design of I.M. Pei, a man regarded as the most important modern architect credited with redefining the skylines of cities across the globe. Pei calls this project his “biography,” and his handiwork continues to draw praise from those who visit this cultural site in the city’s oldest neighborhood.

Overall, the museum is Pei’s interpretation of a Suzhou garden and features a combination of water, straight lines and bamboo. Inside the museum, which meshes with the older black-roofed homes and businesses surrounding it, visitors can view free of charge more than 30,000 cultural relics, including excavated artifacts, Ming and Qing Dynasty paintings, and calligraphy.

Photograph China’s Leaning Tower of Pisa: From a distance you can hardly tell anything is askew, but look closely at the Tiger Hill Pagoda and you find a different story. The 150-foot structure is leaning, with a foundation problem blamed for creating the “Leaning Tower of China,” which is also the subject of several local legends. The name is said to have originated from when a local king buried his father there. Three days later, a white tiger arrived and crouched at the top of the hill as if it was guarding the tomb.

Nowadays visitors can make the trek to the top while taking in a Bonsai garden, which features hundreds of small trees showcasing a shaping technique involving wire. The cost to visit Tiger Hill Pagoda, which is situated in northwest Suzhou, ranges from $10 to $12 depending on the season. Grabbing tea at the top of the hill is recommended.

A number of tour operators offer programs that include Suzhou, such as Alexander and Roberts (www.alexanderroberts.com), Asian Vistas (www.asianvistas.com, formerly Orient Flexi-Pax Tours), China Advocates (www.chinaadvocates.com), ChinaTour.com International (www.chinatour.com), Oriental Tours & Travel (www.orientaltoursandtravel.com) and Wild China (www.wildchina.com). For more information on Suzhou, visit www.traveltosuzhou.com.