The West Lake

Tour Commentary- The West Lake

Ladies and gentlemen:

Before you visit Hangzhou, you might have heard of the saying “Above is heaven, and below are Suzhou and Hangzhou”. It means Suzhou and Hangzhou are as beautiful as Heaven. Why is Hangzhou compared with the heaven? Mostly because of the beautiful scenery of the West Lake. Hundreds of years have passed, the West Lake is still as charming as ever. In ancient time the West Lake was known for its best ten famous sites. Within 60 square km with the West Lake as the center, there are more than 40 scenic spots. We’ll visit the West Lake from Yuemiao Port.

Now, we are moving from west to east. The scene here is called Gu Hill (Lone Hill). It is connected with the Xiling Bridge in the west and Bai Embankment in the east. The Gu Hill has been popular since the Tang and Song dynasties. In the Qing Dynasty, Emperor Kangxi took this place as his interim palace. You may ask that since the Gu Hill is the biggest isle, why it is called Gul Hill? Well, the emperors of different dynasties took the place reserved only for them. So it is called Gu Hill or Lone Hill. The hill is actually a peninsula. The local interesting saying goes like this, “the Lone Hill is not lonely, the Broken Bridge is not broken and the Long Bridge is not long. ”

Now here is the Bai Embankment. On both sides of the dike and lined with different trees. Especially in spring, it is green and red everywhere. You may feel as if you were traveling in a fairyland. At west of the Bai Embankment, there is a bridge called Jindai Bridge. At the east end of the Bai Embankment is the famous Duanqiao Bridge or Broken Bridge. In fact, it was an old stone arch bridge covered with bryophyte. Judging from its appearance, it it a common stone arch bridge . However, it is regarded as the most famous bridge on the West Lake. Why？Because it is connected with the Tale of White Snake.

Well, you may ask me a question. Why is it called Broken Bridge since it is not broken? Let me explain it to you. The bridge is facing the mountain and against the city. It is in the joint point between the North Li Lake and the Outer Lake. It is the best place to enjoy snow in winter. When the sun comes out after snowing the snow on the south side will melt while the other side is still covered with the snow. Looking from afar, the bridge is like a broken bridge. Besides, the bridge is the end of the Bai Embankment. In Chinese “duan” also means “ending”. Got it?

After we visit the three isles-Santanyingyue Island, we are heading for the Su Embankment. There are 6 stone arch bridges in the embankment. The Su Embankment always reminds us of Sudongpo, a very well known poet and scholar was the governor of Hangzhou. He used to write a poet to describe the beauty of the West Lake. In his poem,