Some Info about the Attractions in the itinerary:        

Linwu Cave         

Located in the center of the mountain in Xishan Island in Lake Tai and as large as 18 hectare, Linwu Cave (means Tree House Cave) is an ancient cave system. Standing rocks look like trees, the ceiling of the cave is flat as that of a house, therefore the name Linwu, which means Tree House. Inside the cave, paths are smooth and water is quiet, and walking on the paths is just like doing it in your own courtyard. Looking up, stalactite rocks hang upside-down, as if carved by angels. Caves are inside caves, with one connecting the other, sometimes wide, sometimes narrow; it is secretive and deep, winding and tortuous, unfathomable and puzzling.  

In Taoism, there are so called 10 Big Grotto Heavens (Heavenly Abodes), 36 Little Grotto Heavens (Heavenly Abodes), and 72 Blissful Lands. Linwu Cave ranks the 9th among the Big Grotto Heavens (Heavenly Abodes), and therefore the name 9th Grotto Heaven.        

Linwu Cave is connected with underground streams, pumping out more than 300 cubicmeters of water per day year round. Precipitous cliffs and rocks are reflected in the water like in a mirror in a unique and charming manner. There are innumerous hidden spring outlets and two visible ones, the Milk Spring and the Ziyun Spring. The water from the Milk Spring looks just like milk. During rainy seasons, water is in large quantity and flows out like a waterfall. While the Ziyun Spring has an uninterrupted source in abundant supply. One of the charming features of the cave is the reflected images in water. The scholar Wang Ao (22 Sep 1450 – 14 Apr 1524) in the Ming Dynasty wrote a verse about it: “A well runs deep at the entrance of the cave, the water is like cloudy sap from the void. I come here to get a jar of water, so as to be in contact with angels”. 

More about Taihu Lake at Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Tai 

More about Xishan Island at Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xishan_Island       

More about Taoism at Wikipeida: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taoism 

Baojiantang Hall in ancient Luxiang Village 

Located at the west end of Dongshan (East Mountain) Byland, by the side of giant Lake Tai, the 2nd biggest fresh water lake in China, Luxiang Village is an ancient small village with around 900 years history. There are around 30 ancient compounds built in Ming and Qing Dynasty (1368-1911 AD) in this village. Baojiantang Hall is one of them.  

At the deepest end of Luxiang Village, next to a very large orange forest at the foot of the East Mountain, Baojiantang Hall is a 6000 square meters large private garden with residence houses which was firstly built around 800 years ago，once the residence of Mr. Ye Mengde, the prime minister of Southern Song Dynasty (1127-1279 AD). But before it was bought and renovated in 2001 by Mr. Xu Qin-guan and Mrs. Lu Hui-xia, a couple of Suzhou citizen, it was nearly clasped. This old couple bought this garden in order to live after they retired. But they can not anticipate that although they only bought this garden at RMB100,000, they have used around RMB30,000,000 to renovate it - they even run themselves into debt of around RMB10,000,000. From 2001-2008, they used up all of their savings of whole life and the husband has to continue to work after retied. And this garden now is opened to the outside as a resort and tourist attraction. In order to keep its original feature and restore it to the original charm, Mr. Xu and Mrs Lu consulted many ancient building and garden experts and Chinese World Heritage team, renovated this garden and houses very carefully. They collected many old inscribed boards, couplets and steles. The calligraphy and painting works places in the gardens are all made by celebrities, many furniture in this garden are the real antique. They even moved two real ancient buildings from Shanghai and Suzhou into this garden. Now there are 7 standard rooms and 7 suites in the garden. One night stay in the garden is the best way to taste the unique charm of this garden in this remote small village. When the night drew on, this garden would be full of poetry and romance atmosphere, walking under the red lanterns, tasting a cup of local Biluochun Tea (Biluochun means green coiled spring, one of the 10 most famous green teas in China) inside the Viewing Mountain Pavilion, smelling the unique air from lake and mountain, counting the stars on heaven...  It is be surely an unforgettable experience in China.

Map of Linwu Cave Scenic Area:
       

Map of Ancient Luxiang Village:

Zijin Nunnery (Purple Gold Nunnery)           

Zijin Nunnery was 1st built in Tang Dynasty (around 1400 years ago) and has been renovated and rebuilt many times through the ages. The 16 painted Arhats statues with vivid gestures and different faces which were made by Mr. & Mrs. Lei Chao - the best sculpture artists in Southern Song Dynasty (1127－1279) are widely considered one of the summit of the ancient sculpture arts in China. Other painted Buddhist statues such as 8 statues (on the back wall of 16 arhats) which were made in the early 14th century, Buddha Sakyamuni, Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara (also called Kwan-yin or Goddess of Mercy) and many other gods are also very vivid and the best of the sculpture arts. 

More about Sun Tzu at Wikipeida: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sun_Tzu         

More about Mt. Qionglong at Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qionglong_Mountain