介绍杭州西湖的:
West Lake
West Lake (Chinese: 西湖; Pinyin: Xī Hú) is a famous fresh water lake located in central Hangzhou, in Zhejiang province of eastern China.
The lake is divided by three causeways called su di (苏堤) , bai di (白堤), and yanggong di (杨公堤).
Note: There are 800 West Lakes in China (according to the Lonely Planet). However, the term "West Lake" or "Xi Hu" is generally used to refer to the one in Hangzhou.
The Ten major attractions of West Lake, each marked by a stela with the name written in the calligraphy of the Emperor Qianlong Emperor, are:
Spring Dawn on the Su Causeway (苏堤春晓)
Listining Orioles Singing in the Willows (柳浪闻莺)
View Fish in the Flower Harbour (花港观鱼)
Lotus in the Breeze at the Winding Courtyard (曲苑风荷)
Evening Bells at the Nanping Mountain (南屏晚钟)
Autumn Moon over a Calm Lake (平湖秋月)
Evening Sunshine over Leifeng Pagoda (雷峰夕照)
Three Pools Mirroring the Moon (三潭印月)
Melting Snow on Broken Bridge (断桥残雪)
Twin Peaks Piercing the Clouds (双峰插云) - The "Jungfrau of West Lake"
The West Lake is said to be the incarnation of Xi Shi, one of the Four Beauties of ancient China. Hence, since ancient times, the West Lake was associated with a large number of romatic poets, profound philosophers, national heros and heroins.
Eastern Jin Dynasty philosopher Ge Hong practiced Taoism in the Ge Mountain, and wrote his great philosophical work: Bao Pu Zhi (抱朴子).
Tang Dynasty poet Luo Binwang reclused in Lingyin Temple
Tang Dynasty poet-governor Bai Juyi built the first causeway, which the Bai Causeway.
Song Dynasty poet-governor Su Dongpo, dredged the lake and built up the Su Causeway, made it into another beautiful landmark of West Lake. He also invented a special recipe for preparing pork: the Dongpo Pork. Dongpo Pork is on the menu of every restaurant in Hangzhou
Song Dynasty national hero Yue Fei was buried near the West Lake
Lotus in the Breeze at the Winding CourtyardThe great Ming Dynasty essayist Zhang Dai, wrote a number great essays about the West Lake in Reminiscence and Dream of Tao'an (陶庵梦忆), and a whole book: Search for West Lake in Dreams (西湖梦寻).
OK.
Let's
talk
about
The
Summer
Palace
:)
15km
away
from
downtown
Beijing,the
Summer
Palace
is
located
in
the
northwestern
suburb
of
Beijing
City.The
original
impreial
garden
and
Xanadu
of
Qing
Dynasty
is
the
best-preserved
and
largest
ancient
imperial
garden
eith
the
highest
cultural
value
in
the
world.
Composed
by
Wanshou
Hill
and
Kunming
Lake,the
Summer
Palace
covers
an
area
of
290
hectares
or
2.9
million
sq
meters,four
times
as
large
as
the
Forbidden
City.Large
expanse
of
water
occupying
three-fourth
area,the
grand
palace
is
home
to
over
3,000
ancient
architectures
of
different
styles,including
towers,pavilions,corridors
and
verandas.The
Chinese
architectural
styles
find
their
finest
expression
in
the
Summer
Palace.Hence
it
has
long
been
regarded
a
virtual
museum
of
traditional
Chinese
gardening.
The Temple of Heaven is a worthwhile visiting place in Beijing. It is much bigger than the Forbidden City and smaller than the Summer Palace with an area of about 2,700,000 square meters. The Temple was built in 1420 A.D. during the Ming Dynasty to offer sacrifice to Heaven. As Chinese emperors called themselves 'The Son of Heaven' ,they dared not to build their own dwelling,'Forbidden City' bigger than a dwelling for Heaven. The Temple of Heaven is enclosed with a long wall. The northern part within the wall is semicircular symbolizing the heavens and the southern part is square symbolizing the earth. The northern part is higher than the southern part. This design shows that the heaven is high and the earth is low and the design reflected an ancient Chinese thought of 'The heaven is round and the earth is square".