Qiandeng () is a

town A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word "town" shares an ori ...

Kunshan Kunshan is a county-level city in southeastern Jiangsu province with Shanghai bordering its eastern border and Suzhou on its western boundary. It is under the administration of the prefecture-level city of Suzhou. Name There is a strong pos ...

, Suzhou,

Jiangsu Jiangsu (; ; pinyin: Jiāngsū, Postal romanization, alternatively romanized as Kiangsu or Chiangsu) is an Eastern China, eastern coastal Provinces of the People's Republic of China, province of the China, People's Republic of China. It is o ...

, China. , it has 12 residential communities and 16 villages under its administration. It is located 15 kilometers south of Kunshan city and borders

Qingpu District Qingpu District, is a suburban district of Shanghai Municipality. Lake Dianshan is located in Qingpu. The population of Qingpu was counted at 1,081,000 people in the 2010 Census. It has an area of . Qingpu District is the westernmost distr ...

Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flow ...

on its east side. Qiandeng has an area of 84km² and a population of about 130,000 people. Qiandeng has a rich cultural heritage. It was the native place of Gu Jian, the founder of ''

Kunqu Kunqu (), also known as Kunju (), K'un-ch'ü, Kun opera or Kunqu Opera, is one of the oldest extant forms of Chinese opera. Kunqu is one of the oldest traditional operas of the Han nationality, and is also a treasure of Chinese traditional cult ...

''. It was also the birthplace of the famous

Ming dynasty The Ming dynasty (), officially the Great Ming, was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China, ruling from 1368 to 1644 following the collapse of the Mongol Empire, Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming dynasty was the last ort ...

writer

Gu Yanwu Gu Yanwu () (July 15, 1613 – February 15, 1682), also known as Gu Tinglin (), was a Chinese philologist, geographer, and famous scholar-official in Qing dynasty. He spent his youth during the Manchu conquest of China in anti-Manchu activities a ...

. Qiandeng is now a national historical and cultural town in China, as well as a national 4A grade scenic destination.

History

Qiandeng was called Qiandun () since the

. It was renamed Qiandun village in 1910, established as a township in 1950, and changed to its present name in 2003. File:千灯4A旅游景区.jpg, 4A travel destination File:千灯石板街.jpg , Ancient slabstone lane File:千灯牡丹亭.jpg, Peony pavilion File:Qiandeng.jpg,

Gu Jian Museum

Gu Jian Museum commemorates Gu Jian (顧堅, 14th century?), the founder of ''

''. It is located at the west bank of Qiandeng river. File:千灯镇顾坚纪念馆.jpg, Gu Jian Museum File:昆曲创始人顾坚像.jpg, Gu Jian, founder of

Former residence of Gu Yanwu

The former residence of

was built by Gu Yanwu's grand father, it was destroyed by Japanese pirates, later rebuilt. It is a Ming Dynasty style building complex with formal sitting room, dining room, study and a garden. Gu Yanwu's grave is located at a quiet corner of the Gu Garden File:千灯镇顾炎武故居.jpg, Former residence of Gu Yanwu File:顾炎武故居贻安堂.jpg, Parlor Yi An Hall File:顾炎武故居读书楼.jpg, study File:千灯古镇顾炎武故居顾园.jpg, Gu Garden File:顾炎武之墓.jpg , Grave of Gu Yanwu

Thousand Lamp Museum

A unique exhibition with the town's namesake is Qiandeng Guan(Thousand Lamp Museum), with more than one thousand lamps, dated as early as Neolithic Age to modern times, spanning more than five thousand years. File:千灯草堂.jpg, Thousand Lamp Museum File:千灯馆新石器时代石灯.jpg , Qiandeng Museum Neolithic stone lamp File:千灯馆汉代灰陶抱子灯.jpg , Han Dynasty Pottery lamp feathering a mother holding several babies File:千灯馆西域灯.jpg, Tang Dynasty lamp from the Western Region File:千灯馆元代青花灯.jpg, Yuan Dynasty lamp File:千灯馆明代铜灯.jpg , Ming Dynasty bronze lamp

References

Qiandeng town
Kunshan AAAA-rated tourist attractions Tourist attractions in Suzhou Township-level divisions of Jiangsu {{Suzhou-stub