Lingering on West Lake

While classes are coming up soon and we'll have to start learning vocabulary and characters, right now I am learning to enjoy the sights of Hangzhou. So far I've learned that West Lake is gorgeous. Anyone who goes to Hangzhou inevitably ends up seeing the sites of West Lake and would be unfortunate to miss the opportunity.

The past few days we've been doing some sightseeing with our group of nine students and program director. Needless to say, we are pretty dependent on our program director at this point. David Purnell lived in China in the 80s and has been here a year and a half. He has quite an extensive history of traveling and has a wealth of anecdotes that he shares with us. Most helpfully, he knows Chinese, Hangzhou, and Chinese culture very well. I'm looking forward to having some linguistics courses with him.

The objective of our past few outings has been to get us used to the bus system and starting to put together a map of the city in our head. Also, any time that we're walking down the street or waiting for a bus, we get some more cultural insights ala Dr. Purnell. The first two days we visited West Lake. West Lake is nestled between the city of Hangzhou and the western hills. Fortunately, our dorm is probably only a half an hour walk from the lake. West Lake is the pride of the city. There are countless poems about the lake and accounts of the lake mesmerizing visitors to the city. One such poem comes from the poet-governor Su Dongpo from the Northern Song Dynasty 800 years ago:

The shimmering ripples delight the eye on sunny days;
The dimming hills present a rare view in rainy haze.
West Lake may be compared to Beauty Xi Zi at her best,
It becomes her to be richly adorned or plainly dressed.

It is said that Marco Polo visited Hangzhou and said that it was "without a doubt the finest and most splendid city in the world." This also illustrates some of the history of Hangzhou. The city has been around for thousands of years and was at one point the capital of the Song Dynasty. Nowadays it is the capital of the Zhejiang province. David has told us that not many foreigners make it to Hangzhou, but it is a very popular place for the Chinese from other cities to visit. He said it is kind of like the Chinese Las Vegas because it has an informal "what happens in Hangzhou, stays in Hangzhou" understanding. Of course, we're not getting into that kind of trouble here in Hangzhou.

Our outings to West Lake have definitely left us wanting more. It has always been hazy when we have visited, but it is still gorgeous. We're just at the end of seeing any lotus flowers on the lake, but there are still the big green leaves everywhere. There is so much to explore around the entire lake. There are many paths and it is very nice to walk the causeways that divide it. There are two very narrow causeways that give a different view of the lake. Last time we walked down the causeway, there were a few people with big kites and tiny butterfly kites. For yet another view, I hope to cruise around the water in one of the many touristy boats.

I'll leave with another verse about Hangzhou from Bai Juyi:

One cannot bear to leave Hangzhou --
Part of the reason -- West Lake.