10 Scenes of West Lake (Hangzhou, China)
“Above is heaven; below are Suzhou and Hangzhou,” says an old Chinese proverb. When Marco Polo visited Hangzhou in 1280, he called it “the finest city in the world.” Just two hundred kilometres southwest of Shanghai lies a landscape of water, light, and mist — a place that has inspired poets, painters, and philosophers for centuries. At its centre is West Lake: Hangzhou’s greatest treasure, and one of China’s most celebrated landscapes. Its gentle contours were shaped by master hands — an earthly vision of beauty and harmony. As early as the Tang dynasty, artists painted West Lake with no people and no houses — only water and stone, light and shadow. The gardens along the shore seem to step straight out of those paintings, as though brushstrokes quietly became real. It was in this era that the tradition of the Ten Scenes of West Lake took shape. Views praised in verse… painted on silk scrolls… and carried through the centuries — in poetry, and in landscape art — until they became part of China’s cultural memory. Each scene bears a name — like a line of poetry: Lingering Snow on Broken Bridge Spring Dawn at Su Causeway Lotus in the Breeze at the Crooked Courtyard Orioles Singing in the Willows Twin Peaks Piercing the Clouds Leifeng Pagoda in Evening Glow Evening Bell Ringing at Nanping Hill Viewing Fish at Flower Pond Three Pools Mirroring the Moon Autumn Moon over the Calm Lake These are not simply wonders. They are a poem — written by nature, shaped by human hands, with the soul of China in every image.
“Above is heaven; below are Suzhou and Hangzhou,” says an old Chinese proverb. When Marco Polo visited Hangzhou in 1280, he called it “the finest city in the world.” Just two hundred kilometres southwest of Shanghai lies a landscape of water, light, and mist — a place that has inspired poets, painters, and philosophers for centuries. At its centre is West Lake: Hangzhou’s greatest treasure, and one of China’s most celebrated landscapes. Its gentle contours were shaped by master hands — an earthly vision of beauty and harmony. As early as the Tang dynasty, artists painted West Lake with no people and no houses — only water and stone, light and shadow. The gardens along the shore seem to step straight out of those paintings, as though brushstrokes quietly became real. It was in this era that the tradition of the Ten Scenes of West Lake took shape. Views praised in verse… painted on silk scrolls… and carried through the centuries — in poetry, and in landscape art — until they became part of China’s cultural memory. Each scene bears a name — like a line of poetry: Lingering Snow on Broken Bridge Spring Dawn at Su Causeway Lotus in the Breeze at the Crooked Courtyard Orioles Singing in the Willows Twin Peaks Piercing the Clouds Leifeng Pagoda in Evening Glow Evening Bell Ringing at Nanping Hill Viewing Fish at Flower Pond Three Pools Mirroring the Moon Autumn Moon over the Calm Lake These are not simply wonders. They are a poem — written by nature, shaped by human hands, with the soul of China in every image.