The Suzhou Street, also known as the Deal Street, is situated at the center of the Back Lake of the Summer Palace. Featuring “one river and two streets”, the Street has the characteristics of the water town in the south of the Yangtze River and also includes the life scenes of ordinary people into the royal garden, which is also a proof of Emperor Qianlong’s ingenuity. Built during the reign of Emperor Qianlong, the Suzhou Street was burned down by the Anglo-French force in 1860. 

During the reconstruction of the Summer Palace ordered by Emperor Guangxu, the Suzhou Street was not restored due to the depletion of the national treasury as well as domestic trouble and foreign invasion. It was until 1986 that reconstruction of the street began and after years, the street was officially opened to the public in September, 1990. The newly-built Suzhou Street stretches more than 300 meters with numerous shops including restaurants, tea houses, old-style banking houses and pawnshops. Currency of the Qing dynasty is used for transactions inside the street. Shop signs and banners are all imitations of those in the past, representing the commercial culture in mid-18th century.