Wuxi is best known as a convenient base for visitors to Tai Hu (Lake Tai), which is located a mere five kilometers from the center of town. While there isn't much to see in the city itself, it lies in the heart of Jiangsu Province, sharing the region's long and interesting history. The Grand Canal runs straight through town and the local hills provide great views of the "Grand" Lake.

Wuxi's location, just upriver from Shanghai, places it directly in the region's industrial and agricultural heart. It thus lies in the middle of both scenic, fertile lands and an environmental travesty in the making. The waterways that bring life through Wuxi, and to the entire central east coast of China, have been exploited for over three thousand years and while the lakes, rivers and canals still attract tourists, their days of fueling a heartland with safe and clean water are certainly numbered as industry and its byproducts take over.

Wuxi is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in China with a recorded history that stretches back to at least the 11th century B.C. Archaeological evidence shows that inhabitants were there even before two Zhou Dynasty princes officially founded the city and established the region's Wu culture, but it is the Wu legacy that endures. Natural resources have made Wuxi an important place in the Middle Kingdom throughout its entire history. The earliest exploitation was tin from nearby "tin mountain" (Xishan), whose caches were eventually tapped, providing the town with the name "Wuxi," which means "without tin."

An important town along the Grand Canal, Wuxi was a great producer and container for grain and silk products in the first few centuries A.D., while extensive irrigation and transportation canals turned the Yangzi Delta into the bread (well, rice) basket of China. Mills of all kinds—cotton, silk, rice—cropped up in Wuxi, making it an early seat of industry.

The modern route of the Grand Canal still keeps Wuxi in business. Throughout the 20th century it was known as "Little Shanghai," or a "bright economic star." It has been developed at the same staggering pace as the rest of the Delta, following Shanghai's lead. Its other nickname, "the pearl of Lake Tai," shows its inextricable relationship with the third largest freshwater lake in China. While Tai Hu is a renowned scenic spot, with famous gardens and groves of flowering plum trees, its shores are crowded with factories and industrialized agriculture, which pollute Tai Hu's waters with abandon. As a result both the lake and Wuxi have made international headlines in recent years as one of the most polluted places in the world. Thus, horrific algae blooms, cyanobacteria outbreaks and cancer-causing fish may be the lasting legacy of Wuxi's nearly ten thousand year history.

The inland delta area of Jiangsu Province enjoys mild but wet weather with humid summers and drizzly winters. Temperatures get uncomfortably hot in July and August and can be penetratingly cold in January, but the long transitional months of fall and spring are quite pleasant with many sunny (well, usually hazy) days. Early spring's blossoming trees make it a strong contender for the best time to visit.