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A view of the West Lake in Hangzhou, East China's Zhejiang Province.

A bird's eye view of the West Lake.

A bird's eye view of the West Lake.

A bird's eye view of Hangzhou and the West Lake.

Three students from a local middle school draw a picture of the West Lake.

Journalists take photos for the West Lake. photo by Han Lei

The West Lake in Hangzhou is a shining pearl inlaid on the vast land of China, reputed for beautiful scenery, a multitude of historical sites, brilliant cultural relics, and a profusion of native products.

Legend has it that the lake used to be an auspicious pearl hewn into its sparkling shape by the Jade Dragon and the Golden Phoenix but it was later stolen by the Mother Queen of the West. When Jade Dragon and Golden Phoenix scrambled with the Mother Queen, this pearl accidentally fell onto a land that was known as Hangzhou.

In remote antiquity what is today's Hangzhou and the West Lake was a lagoon, or a quiet arm of the sea. In 210 BC, when Qinshihuang was passing by Qiantang (present-day Hangzhou) on his way to Huiji (present-day Shaoxing) to offer sacrifices and libations to King Yu, the wind rose and the waves in the Qiantang River surged so violently that he had no alternative but to have his ship tethered to a rock at the foot of the Baoshi Mountain south of the West Lake. Today, the rock to which the emperor fastened his boat is still there.

Later, the Qiantang River was silted up and so was the mouth of the lagoon, which appeared and disappeared with the flow and ebb of the sea. It was not until the Sui Dynasty that a lake took shape. The lake was first known as Wulinshui Lake, and later renamed Qiantang Lake. It finally assumed its present name after the city of Hangzhou was moved from the Lingying Mountain to the Phoenix Mountain, with the lake situated in the west . Su Dongpo, a celebrated poet, likened the West Lake to Lady Xizi, and so the lake became also known as the Xizi Lake. Despite its beautiful name, for a long period of time the West Lake was nothing but a natural reservoir that provided water for irrigating the farmland. This fact was borne out by a poem the famous Tang poet Bai Juyi wrote for the local people upon leaving Hangzhou after his tenure as a local official had expired:" As I bid farewell to you all, I have have nothing but to leave behind a lake full of water in case you come across a year of crop failure."

Originally no more than a shallow inlet, this section of the Qiantong river was dredged and damned off in the eighth century to form the lake that exists today. It was also at this time that the lake's design was enriched with the picturesque north-south Su causeway and the east-west Bai Di causeway.

Fairy Islet, an island at the lake's centre, is a wonderful spot to savour its scenic expanse. Amidst this island's intricately designed gardens, ponds and pavilions are the famed "Three Towers Mirroring the Moon". Erected some seven hundred years ago, these so-called towers are actually three small pagoda-like structures placed in the water at a slight distance from the island. Rumoured to control the evil spirits lurking in the water's depths, in mid-August they contain within their hollow structures a reflection of the full moon.

The east-west Bai Di causeway links the Solitary Island to terra firma. This idyllic retreat has for centuries been a magnet to the rich and famous. It is said that the famous Chinese writer Lin Bu (967-1028) lived in seclusion here for twenty years. Shunning the corrupt life of officialdom, he dedicated himself to the cultivation of the 365 plum blossoms which he planted here. Mundane court life followed in his wake however, when the Qing dynasty Emperor Qianlong (r. 1736-1795), charmed by the island's scenery, established an Imperial Palace on it. But in 1911, in honour of the president of the new republic, the site was opened to the public and renamed Zhongshan Park. (President Sun Yatsen's political name was Sun Zhongshan.) Now the Imperial Palace, incorporated within the Zhejiang Provincial Musuem, is used to display one of China's best ceramic collections.

From a botanical perspective, the best location to enjoy the West Lake is the Quyuan Garden on its western shore. First landscaped during the Southern Song dynasty (1127-1279), it was enlarged into a twenty-eight hectare park in 1978. Within it are over two hundred species of lotus - a view of these unusual flowers blooming (July to September) against the serene background of the West Lake may be one of the most stunning floral spectacles you will ever behold. At other times of the year the garden is still marvellous to visit since tea tables, placed in courtyards and pavilions along the lake shore, create an ideal atmosphere to survey one of the most delightfully picturesuque spots in China.

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