West Lake – The Center Holds

Autumn Moon on the Calm Lake

Hidden villages and ancient ruins abound in China, and if you have the time and patience to actually visit some of them, more power to you. But if there’s one place that embodies everything distinctly Chinese – ancient refinement, ethereal harmony between man and nature – it’s Hangzhou’s West Lake. Accept no substitute. Has it lost something to globalization? Sure. You’ll never be more than 100 meters from someone looking to separate you from your tourist dollars, but then again you won’t have to walk much farther than that to relieve yourself. Times change, but at West Lake, the center holds.

Baochu Pagoda, perhaps the world’s first skyscraper. Constructed by a loyal minister to pray for the safe return of Qian Chu, last king of Wuyue. The king had undertaken a risky visit to the court of Song Emperor Taizu, and was long overdue.

Scenery Under Heaven, an exquisitely landscaped garden of a West Lake mansion, reserved until recently for the exclusive use of emperors and their courtiers.

A long view of West Lake’s three isles: Three Ponds Mirroring the Moon, Lake-Heart Pavilion, and Lord Ruan’s Mound. All man-made, mud dredged from the bottom of the lake long ago, transformed into celestial monuments to man’s place in nature.

Wonders great and small abound at West Lake. The touchdown of a red dragonfly on a withered lotus leaf.

Lotus flowers in full bloom. In the misty background, the Brocade-Belt Bridge, a dike built by poet-governor Bai Juyi to transform the West Lake from shallow, frequently-flooded sea inlet to placid jewel.

The Broken Bridge, so-named for the way it looks under a mantle of snow. At the arch, fabled doomed lovers Bai Niangzi and Xu Xian first met. Their enemy, the monk Fahai, eventually kidnapped Bainiangzi, locked her in still-extant Leifeng Pagoda, then left her to die.

Lord Ruan’s Mound, named for the man who dredged West Lake into its current configuration, at sunset. Visitors paddle to the island for evening celebrations and holiday carnivals.

Waterfowl from across China flock to West Lake to spend the winter.

Although it puts most modern architecture to shame, Bao Pu Temple is old enough to be home to legendary Dao master Ge Hong, who made immortality pills. Whether or not they worked, the endeavor advanced Chinese medicine and pharmacology immeasurably.

Yellow Dragon Cave, where Song Dynasty priests would sacrifice lives to the winged lizard who once held dominion over West Lake. Buddhism, Communism, and finally Commercialism have reduced his once-fearsome spirit to silly myth.

A relatively modern contribution to West Lake’s beauty: the Botanical Gardens, built in 1956, over 200 hectares with more than 3,400 varieties of flora.

Prince Bay Park looks like rural Holland, yet two Song Dynasty princes are buried there. The park is almost never without strolling newlyweds in matrimonial raiment, who find the lush, romantic environs perfect for wedding pictures.

Tiger Spring. A temple lies next to it, built in the ninth century by a monk who dreamed of two tigers digging a spring, then awoke and found water where before there had been none.

Cave of Morning Mist and Sunset Glow. Some of the sculptures inside are a millennium old, and the entire cave sparkles multihued during the few hours it receives direct sunshine. From the entrance, visitors have an unmatched view of the Qiantang River.

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