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From Baoshi Hill, Hangzhou’s contrasts come into view

By Hannah Lund | June 16, 2016, Thursday | Online Edition

AFTER three years in Hangzhou, I still find myself coming back to the rocks atop Baoshi Hill. On the top, to my left, the dragon scale skin of Baochu Pagoda, to my right, a path zig-zagging into green shadows. It’s Hangzhou’s best spot to see a panorama of West Lake, the heart of the city. I keep coming back because it’s here, enjoying the dual personalities of Hangzhou, that the city truly becomes living poetry.

To even get to my rock, I have to travel through two worlds. One world, on the north shore: tall, metallic, and modern. The other world, on the other shores: green, serene, and scenic. I start on a bustling street, veering off to climb Baoshi Hill toward Baochu Pagoda. The echoes of city life still ring in my ears as the path takes me up into thin, wispy trees until I reach the much-coveted panorama of West Lake that I mentioned before. From here, it’s clear that West Lake straddles a divide.

Unlike other cities I’ve been to, Hangzhou’s “divide” is not “old versus new” or “Eastern versus Western,” but instead a seeming conflict of temperament. One side boasts a quiet recluse, the other a cosmopolitan fugue. A traveler can walk through the downtown area for a cup of coffee, and then spend the afternoon escaping into green hills.

This is not the mark of a divided city.

Like West Lake, both shores encompass one place and become something more. Skyscraper windows and wind-swept willows reflect in the same water. The Bai and Su Causeways connect the north and south banks like dashes from word to word. Both worlds are in close contact, and journeying from one to the next takes a matter of minutes.

This journey between worlds is when Hangzhou looks best. That is, when both sides of the lake, both worlds, have their say in the horizon. Here, it’s not about choosing one world or the other, but of living and thriving in them both. It’s about a fusion that might look like a city bus route that ends up weaving through bamboo forests, or ginko leaves that fall on sidewalks alongside apartment complexes. West Lake’s north and south shores, the silver towers and emerald hills, merge into one skyline, just like people from all over China and the world come together in the same city. Hangzhou’s dual personality becomes a place of possibility — a place where poetry jumps off the page and morphs into something people can breathe and touch. 

I invite others to climb my rock on Baoshi Hill and join me as I admire it: the tall buildings, the green hills, and the giant exclamation point when they converge.

Where else but in Hangzhou?

Hangzhou


 

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