Picturesque West Lake you'll never be tired of

（People's Daily Online）  09:46, November 27, 2012

Southern China has a long and profound Han cultural heritage, which historically produced countless outstanding figures. Meanwhile the highly developed economy and culture as well as the prosperous urban lifestyle all attracted literati from other regions.

Famous poets such as Bai Juyi and Su Shi had both served as local administrator of Hangzhou, undertaking the renovation of the West Lake, clearing the sludge, constructing the long embankment, planting in the lake area and building scenic spots to make the West Lake a scenic garden area. Meanwhile they both wrote a large number of beautiful poems in praise of the West Lake, thus adding to the cultural heritage of the area.

Hangzhou owns the famous West Lake garden area, where gardens are centered around the West Lake. Each garden has a different theme, and the one most representative of the beauty of Chinese gardens is the Guozhuang Garden built in 1907, which was called the "number one garden of the West Lake." People of that time enjoyed constructing gardens, and liked to link gardens with one’s personal character: it was said that when making gardens the ideal is to be winding, but when making friends, one should be straight.

West Lake is a freshwater lake located in the historic area of Hangzhou. The lake is divided by the causeways of Su Dyke, Bai Dyke and Yanggong Dyke. There are numerous temples, pagodas, gardens, and artificial islands within the lake.

It was made a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2011, and was described as having "influenced garden design in the rest of China as well as Japan and Korea over the centuries" and as reflecting "an idealized fusion between humans and nature."

West lake has ten known scenic views of the West Lake in Hangzhou, such as "Watching Fish in Jade Spring", "Dancing Lotus in the Courtyard", "Moon Reflected in Three Pools", "Bells Chime in Dusk in Nanping" "Autumn Moon in Peaceful Lake" and "Orioles Sing in Forest of Willows".