Suzhou

Suzhou, also known as Soochow, is a significant city in southeastern Jiangsu in eastern China. Its city centre is 100 kilometres (62 miles) west of Shanghai, where the outer suburbs of the two global financial centres converge. In addition to being a significant economic hub and a focal point of trade and business, it is also Jiangsu's second-largest city, only exceeded by the province's capital. The city's northern shoreline is located on a lower stretch of the Yangtze River, while its southern-western waterfront is located on Lake Tai – which is traversed by numerous canals and is part of the Yangtze River Delta area – and is more prominent. The administrative centre of Suzhou is a prefecture-level city with a total resident population (as of 2013) of 10.58 million in its administrative territory and a city proper with a population of 4.33 million in its administrative area. Within that time span, it saw a population increase of 6.5 percent, the fastest increase among cities with more than 5 million inhabitants ever recorded.