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Lake of a thousand treasures
By Xu Wenwen |
July 5, 2010, Monday
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EDITOR'S note:
Hangzhou offers many travel adventures and the city has launched 10 fascinating routes for visitors to the World Expo in nearby Shanghai. Shanghai Daily publishes one route a week on Mondays.
Hangzhou is famous for beautiful scenery, mountains and lakes that attract visitors who want to cool off in summer. One magnet is Qiandao Lake, or Thousand Islands Lake where a thousand adventures await. Xu Wenwen reports.
Qiandao Lake
Qiandao Lake, or Thousand Islands Lake, in Hangzhou is so named for the 1,078 islets scattered over its 580 square kilometers of reservoir. It's embraced by green hills and forests and scores of scenic and historic sites.
The lake is known for its pure water, and it is the source of renowned Nongfu Spring mineral water.
The reservoir, China's biggest man-made lake, was formed during construction of the Xin'an River Hydropower Station in 1959.
The zigzagging shore offers many coves to explore. The islands themselves are distinctive. Popular islands include Bird Island, Snake Island and Lock Island which features what is said to be the world's biggest lock in a museum of locks.
The area, including wetlands, is home to many bird species. There are around 100 species of freshwater fish in the lake and around 1,800 plants abound, including tea in plantations.Forest Wetland
"Island in a lake, lake in an island" is how visitors describe the mysterious Longchuan Forest Wetland, a magnet for photographers and artists because of its changing colors and wildlife.
It is especially spectacular in autumn when leaves change color.
It lies on large Longchuan Island in the southwest part of Qiandao Lake.
It contains a large virgin forest of broad-leaf trees, extensive marshes and waterways and numerous flowers, notably golden triarrhena.
As the season changes, so do the colors of the vegetation and the colors of the mirroring water and sky.
Bird species include herons, cormorants, ducks, geese and numerous others.
Boating, biking, and hiking are popular. There are plenty of hotels, tea houses and restaurants.Ancient Village
The lakeside Qinchuan ancient village can be reached by taking a boat at the wharf of Qiandao Lake to Jiangjia Town and then taking a motor tricycle.
The village contains around 300 two-story buildings - a couple from the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) and most from the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), some from the Republic of China period (1911-1949).
As a stream zigzags through the village, nearly every building has a natural fish pond and there are many waterside pavilions.
At the entrance of the village are several huge ancient camphor trees, known as "guest-welcoming trees." They are revered; people used to call them "Mother Camphor" and "Father Camphor" and believed they protected the village.
Near the hole at the root of Mother Camphor, people used to place coins, paste pieces of red paper and pray for good luck.
Most of the buildings feature carved wood or stone pillars and carvings on the eaves, windows and walls mainly depicting famous legends, such as the "Eight Immortals Crossing the Sea" and "Confucius Giving Classes."
Hangzhou offers many travel adventures and the city has launched 10 fascinating routes for visitors to the World Expo in nearby Shanghai. Shanghai Daily publishes one route a week on Mondays.
Hangzhou is famous for beautiful scenery, mountains and lakes that attract visitors who want to cool off in summer. One magnet is Qiandao Lake, or Thousand Islands Lake where a thousand adventures await. Xu Wenwen reports.
Qiandao Lake
Qiandao Lake, or Thousand Islands Lake, in Hangzhou is so named for the 1,078 islets scattered over its 580 square kilometers of reservoir. It's embraced by green hills and forests and scores of scenic and historic sites.
The lake is known for its pure water, and it is the source of renowned Nongfu Spring mineral water.
The reservoir, China's biggest man-made lake, was formed during construction of the Xin'an River Hydropower Station in 1959.
The zigzagging shore offers many coves to explore. The islands themselves are distinctive. Popular islands include Bird Island, Snake Island and Lock Island which features what is said to be the world's biggest lock in a museum of locks.
The area, including wetlands, is home to many bird species. There are around 100 species of freshwater fish in the lake and around 1,800 plants abound, including tea in plantations.Forest Wetland
"Island in a lake, lake in an island" is how visitors describe the mysterious Longchuan Forest Wetland, a magnet for photographers and artists because of its changing colors and wildlife.
It is especially spectacular in autumn when leaves change color.
It lies on large Longchuan Island in the southwest part of Qiandao Lake.
It contains a large virgin forest of broad-leaf trees, extensive marshes and waterways and numerous flowers, notably golden triarrhena.
As the season changes, so do the colors of the vegetation and the colors of the mirroring water and sky.
Bird species include herons, cormorants, ducks, geese and numerous others.
Boating, biking, and hiking are popular. There are plenty of hotels, tea houses and restaurants.Ancient Village
The lakeside Qinchuan ancient village can be reached by taking a boat at the wharf of Qiandao Lake to Jiangjia Town and then taking a motor tricycle.
The village contains around 300 two-story buildings - a couple from the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) and most from the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), some from the Republic of China period (1911-1949).
As a stream zigzags through the village, nearly every building has a natural fish pond and there are many waterside pavilions.
At the entrance of the village are several huge ancient camphor trees, known as "guest-welcoming trees." They are revered; people used to call them "Mother Camphor" and "Father Camphor" and believed they protected the village.
Near the hole at the root of Mother Camphor, people used to place coins, paste pieces of red paper and pray for good luck.
Most of the buildings feature carved wood or stone pillars and carvings on the eaves, windows and walls mainly depicting famous legends, such as the "Eight Immortals Crossing the Sea" and "Confucius Giving Classes."
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