Suzhou city is located in Jiangsu province of China. The city is world famous for its collection of numerous beautiful classical Chinese gardens that portrays the country’s ancient cultural heritage. If you are moving to China to settle down in Suzhou, then be informed that the beautiful Suzhou gardens are waiting for you to explore them. Each of the Suzhou gardens is unique, and deserves a good amount of time in order to be explored thoroughly. However, the gardens often require you to buy the entry tickets. Although the ticket prices vary, sometime it could be quite expensive.
This post is aimed at explaining the nuances associated with the Suzhou Citizen Card that allow you multiple entries to the famous Suzhou travel attractions, such as Suzhou gardens, temples, etc., virtually for free. I’m going to tell you how and where to buy the Suzhou Citizen Card, also known as Suzhou Social Security Card. The comprehensive lists of attraction names in English are also included for a quick reference.
Related articles – you can also check out my travel reviews for Nanjing, Hefei, and Changzhou. If you like scenery, do check out my posts – Taizhou and Nantong travel review.
If you wish to improve your Mandarin Chinese skills, you are welcome to check out my free lessons to learn Mandarin Chinese fast.
Why you need to Buy a Chinese Card to visit Suzhou gardens?
There are hundreds of scenic gardens in Suzhou. Each garden looks different in different seasons, so it makes sense to visit a garden at least 4 times a year. As mentioned earlier, visiting a Suzhou garden would often require you to buy a ticket. The prices of the tickets vary from garden to garden. However, in general, you’ll be spending money solely for buying a “ticket” for each garden visit. The ticket to the Suzhou’s most famous garden, the Humble Administrator’s Garden, is RMB 80/person for a one-day entry. Obviously, it’s desirable to save money if you intend to visit the gardens again and again.
Well, there are ways to minimize your Suzhou garden visit expenses. For example, you can buy a Suzhou Citizen Card (苏州市民卡, Sūzhōu shìmín kǎ) that allows free entry to most of the Suzhou gardens.
Related post- Suzhou Industrial Park – a Flower Garden in Suzhou China.
Who can buy a Suzhou citizen card?
The Suzhou Citizen Card is for anyone (both Chinese nationals and foreigners included) who lives in Suzhou for a long time. The card gives you certain privileges (that could be different for foreigner and Chinese). One such advantage is multiple free entries to Suzhou gardens, and some other the gardens in the cities located nearby Suzhou, such as in Wuxi.
Types of Suzhou garden card
There are multiple types of Suzhou cards that could comprise a Suzhou Citizen Card-
- Suzhou Leisure Card (苏州休闲卡, Sūzhōu xiūxián kǎ);
- Suzhou Garden Card (苏州园林卡, Sūzhōu yuánlín kǎ);
- Suzhou Bus/Subway card (苏州通, Sūzhōu tōng).
Suzhou citizen card – how many cards you need to buy?
Well, you can buy one card or multiple cards. It’s totally up to you. Allow me to explain!
In my case, I initially I bought a subway card (November, 2017), then topped it up (added value) for “Suzhou Leisure Card” (December, 2017), and then added value for “Suzhou Garden Card” (May, 2018). It’s like buying a Mobile SIM card, and then adding different top-up values for different packages, e.g. SMS, local calls, ISD calls, internet data, etc.
As such, I have only one card that serves all-purposes. But if you wish to have three different cards, it’s very much possible.
Where to buy Suzhou cards?
You’ll buy the card at Citizen Card Service Center. These centers are spread across the Suzhou city to sell/replace/renew the cards. You can visit them at any of the following places – each location sells Suzhou Leisure Card, Suzhou Garden Card, Subway card, etc.
The finger in the above picture shows the location of the Citizen Card Service Center office in the TongJing Park, Suzhou.
This was shown to me by the officials at an office located elsewhere. Let me show you the exact GPS location where I bought my Suzhou Garden Card-
Here is how the citizen card outlet looked like during my visit on a rainy day-
The TongJing Park is located near the Xujiang Lu (胥江路) Suzhou subway station.
Take exit 2, cross the road and walk for 2 minutes – you’ll see the entrance of the TongJing Park.
Now let’s look at each of the cards and the facilities that you, as a foreigner, would be entitled once you own them.
Suzhou Leisure Card
- Documents required to buy the card – Passport.
- When to buy: the card is sold twice a year – typically in June and December (mostly throughout the month). If you missed buying a card in June, you’ll need to wait until coming December,
- Who can buy – anyone can buy (even a tourist),
- Living in Suzhou requirement – there is no required time duration that how long you should have lived in Suzhou in order to buy the leisure card,
- Validity of the card- one year,
- Renewal – again in June/December. Can be renewed using Alipay or WeChat,
- Fee- RMB 198 (December, 2017). You can pay the card fee using cash, Alipay or WeChat.
- Further information – here is the notification (in Chinese) for the Suzhou Leisure card.
Suzhou Garden Card
- Documents required to buy the card – Passport, police registration certificate,
- When to buy: the card is sold throughout the year. Come and buy the Suzhou Garden Card anytime during the official working hours,
- Who can buy – Anyone (including foreigner – students, working, etc.) who has lived particularly in Suzhou (not just China) for at least 6 months. The Citizen Card Service Center officials would verify your duration of Suzhou residency using the police registration certificate. That means, if you register with the Suzhou police on 1st January 2018, you can buy the card only from 1 July 2018. Make no mistake, this rule is followed rather very strictly,
- Living in Suzhou requirement – at least 6 months,
- Validity- one year,
- Renewal – anytime, throughout the year. Can be renewed using Alipay or WeChat,
- Fee- RMB 120 (May, 2018). You can pay the card bills using cash, Alipay or WeChat,
- Further information – here is the notification (in Chinese) for Suzhou Garden card.
Suzhou subway card
Anyone can buy a Suzhou subway card (anytime) for some RMB 20 or so. No passport required. Check out my detailed post- Suzhou Tourism & Transport.
Which gardens are included in Suzhou Leisure Card
Well, there are so many places included in this card- I’d list them down here in English. You can translate the names using Google Translate and use the Baidu Map to find their exact locations in Suzhou.
Suzhou attractions
Lushan Scenic Area, Sunwu Culture Park, Wanyuan Garden, Baimayan Ecological Park , Dayangshan Wenshu Monastery , Dayangshan Botanical Garden , Yangshan Hot Spring , Panmen Scenic Area, Xishan Diaohua Building, Xifeng, Linwu Cave (including Meiyuan), Shigong Mountain, Taihu Cowboy Style Resort , Dongshan Yuhuasheng, Dongshan Luxiang Ancient Village, Chinese Embroidery Art Museum , Moonlight Moonlight, Shengze Hu Rose Garden, Flower Botanical Garden, Teddy Farm , Taihu No. 1 RV Camping Park , Shui Baxian Ecological and Cultural Park, Hanshan Temple , Tianchi Mountain , Mudu Yanjia Garden , Muxi Hongyin Mountain House , Mudu Gusongyuan , Mudu Bianyanfudi , Wujiang Tongli Ancient Town, Jingsi Garden, Zhenze Ancient Town, Taihu Lake Snow Silkworm Cultural Park, Changshu Shajiabang Scenic Area, Laoshan Shanghu , Laoshan Jianmen Scenic Area , Laoshan City Wall Area , Laoshan Baoyan Ecological Park Scenic Area , Kunshan Qiandeng Ancient Town (including Datang Ecological Park), Taicangsha Xigu Town, Zhangjiagang Fenghuangshan Scenic Spot • Heyang Mountain Song Hall, Zhangjiagang Phoenix Mountain Scenic Area • Xinzhuang Ancient Street.
Wuxi attractions
Wuxi Meiyuan and Wuxi Hualaidu Cinemas (including the Three Dozen Baigujing Experience Hall, the Wumei Niang Legend Studio, the Digital Cinema Science and Technology Museum, and another 1D ticket for the 5D Light Show), the Chinese Admiral Shiyuan, and the former residence of Xue Fucheng. Xinzhou Ecological Park, Goose Lake Rose Cultural Park, Garden East (including the field park), Haotian No. 1 Space Science and Technology Experience Hall, Xuelang Mountain Scenic Area, Hongshan Site Museum, and Xishizhuang (boat ticket).
Yixing attractions
Zhanggong Cave, Tao Zushengjing, Zhujian promenade, Linggu Cave, Yumian Lake, Zihai Lavender Manor.
Jiangyin attractions
Goose Nostril Park, Jiamao International Bird and Bird Park, Xu Xiake Cultural Expo Park, Military Culture Museum, and Zan Park.
The cities Yixing, Jiangyin and Wuxi are located very close to Suzhou. You can conveniently take a bus from Suzhou to these cities. Please refer to the Chinese Intercity Bus Travel Guide.
Which gardens are included in Suzhou Garden Card
Here is the list of Suzhou attractions that can be visited for free using a Suzhou Garden Card-
Tiger Hill Scenic Area, Humble Administrator’s Garden, Lingering Garden, Lion Grove, Master of the Nets, Canglang Pavilion, Yipu, Couple Park, Yi Park, Huanxiu Mountain Villa, Shangshan Animal World, Shihu Scenic Area (Upper Mountain Forest Park, Shifo Temple, Sangha Park), Tianping Mountain Scenic Area (Tianyun Temple), Maple Bridge Scenic Area, and Keyuan Garden (Not all of the above Night Garden).
You can visit these places collectively for 100 times in a year.
Related post – MeiMei Dance Hall – Suzhou.
Update June-2019
Well, since my Suzhou Garden Card’s validity expired in May-2019, I renewed the card in June-2019. Here are a few points worth noting:
- Initially, my colleagues recommended me to renew the Garden Card at Xinghai Square (星海广场). However, when I reached the Xinghai Square, the officials informed me that they don’t process the Garden Card. I was recommended to visit the Tongjing Park.
- Finally, I renewed the card at the Tongjing Park. The serving staff didn’t check my passport or police registration form. The whole card renewal process took hardly 2 minutes. The card was renewed for RMB 120, and it’s valid up to June-2020.
In summary, I think if you have decided to live in Suzhou and would like to explore the city and nearby attractions, then it makes sense to buy the Suzhou Citizen Card. The card will save you both money and time (you don’t need to queue at ticket counters). 🙂
Update: October 2020
I once again renewed my Suzhou Garden Card (园林卡, Yuan Lin Ka) in October 2020 for one year (valid until October 2021). I paid RMB 120 by AliPay. However, the office to buy the card has been shifted to right outside the Tongjing park. Fortunately, you don’t have to go any farther due to change of office location. In fact, the new office to buy the card is located just at the aforementioned entrance of the Tongjing park (桐泾公园, Tongjing Gong Yuan). Basically, you still have to come to the Xujiang Road subway station (胥江路, Xujiang Lu), take exit 2, and walk straight a few minutes. You will see the office right on the other side of the road. Here is the photo of the office to buy Suzhou Garden Card:
The blue characters on the office are read as: 园林年卡客服中心 (Garden Annual Card Customer Service Center, Yuánlín nián kǎ kèfù zhōngxīn).
That’s all in this post about the Chinese card!
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Last updated: Thursday, October 15, 2020