West Lake

West Lake

Culture,Immovable Culture Heritage,Tourism

West Lake is a freshwater lake in Hangzhou, China. It has influenced poets and painters throughout Chinese history for its natural beauty and historic relics, and it has also been among the most important sources of inspiration for Chinese garden designers. Over 2,000 years ago, West Lake was still a part of the Qiantang River. Due to soil sedimentation, the feet of Wu Mountain and Baoshi Mountains, the surrounding mountains on the northern and southern sides of the lake, gradually stretched to form shoal heads. Later, these sand spits slowly merged into a bank, to which a lagoon emerged to the west; this was the old West Lake of the Qin and Han dynasties. The renown west lake relies on the work of the poet and government official Bai Juyi in the Tang dynasty(785-804). He ordered the construction of a stronger and taller dyke, with a dam to control the flow of water, providing water for irrigation and mitigating the drought problem. He ordered the construction of a causeway named Baisha Causeway to allow crossing part of the lake on foot, instead of requiring the services of a boat. The scenery of the lake is further expended at the beginning of the Song dynasty(1086–1094). Another great poet, Su Shi, ordered dredging of the lake and piled up all the mud into another causeway, in the style of Bai Causeway, but much wider and nearly three times as long: he also planted willow trees along its banks. The Kangxi and Qianlong emperors of the Qing dynasty in 17-18th century toured South China and stopping by Hangzhou many times; which helped to expedite the revamping and rehabilitation of West Lake. The Kangxi Emperor visited Hangzhou five times, and wrote the names of "Ten Scenic Spots of West Lake" selected in the Southern Song dynasty. The local governor then inscribed the emperor's handwriting onto stelae and built pavilions over them. The work created the spot we can see today.

worldheritagelayer

Around 3rd century BC

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Site

251

26/04/2021

04/26/2021 12:16:33 am

cm x cm x cm

current,30.24034606785947,120.14172290134306;

West Lake

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Place Name

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