City of Suzhou: Canal view in the "old city"; Shantang Street (also: Seven-mile Shantang); The canal belongs to the 24 waterways in Suzhou near the Grand Canal. Marco Polo named Suzhou "Venice of the East". In 2015; after restauration; Shantang Street opened for tourism. Shantang Canal was built starting in 825 AD; during Tang Dynasty; by Bai Juyi; a poet and Cishi (the prefectural governor) of Suzhou. Suzhou is a big city in Jiangsu Province; East China; 100 km northwest of Shanghai; Suzhou is on the Lake Tai Plain south of the Yangtze River. Founded in 514 BC; Suzhou has many sites of historical interest.