Qualla: West Lake (Huizhou)

West Lake (Huizhou): Introduction

Sat, 13 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Cangminzho, CC BY-SA 4.0. In 1094, the poet Su Shi arrived in Huizhou under circumstances he had not chosen. He had been exiled from the imperial court — a bureaucratic fall from grace — and the subtropical heat, the strange birds, and a lake called Feng Lake (meaning 'bumper harvest') were his compensation. He wrote poems about the lake anyway, and in one of them he compared it to a more famous West Lake in Hangzhou. That comparison, once written, proved irresistible. The lake's name changed. The comparison outlasted the dynasty. And nine hundred years later, the lake at the heart of Huizhou is still called West Lake because a great poet once drew an analogy in exile.

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Image: Cangminzho | CC BY-SA 4.0

West Lake (Huizhou): A Name Born from Homesickness

Sat, 13 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Zhangzhugang, CC BY-SA 4.0. Su Shi lived beside the lake for three years, from 1094 to 1097. During that time he wrote prolifically — poetry, letters, essays — and the lake wove itself into his work. After Su Shi left, the people who remained did not forget him. In 1096, they built a causeway named the Su C...

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Image: Zhangzhugang | CC BY-SA 4.0

West Lake (Huizhou): Centuries of Cultivation and Loss

Sat, 13 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Mengyeyue, CC BY-SA 3.0. Long before Su Shi arrived, the lake had been taking shape. During the Eastern Jin dynasty (317–420), a Buddhist temple called Longxing Temple was built on its banks. By the Tang dynasty, emperors renamed and enlarged it. In 1066, Magistrate Chen Cheng deepened the lake and added...

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Image: Mengyeyue | CC BY-SA 3.0

West Lake (Huizhou): Water, Birds, and the Work of Restoration

Sat, 13 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Cangminzho, CC BY-SA 4.0. Today West Lake covers a combined area of 20.91 square kilometers, of which 3.13 square kilometers is open water — divided into five linked basins: South Lake, Feng Lake, Ping Lake, E Lake, and Ling Lake. Nine bridges cross various points. The biological inventory is substantial:...

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Image: Cangminzho | CC BY-SA 4.0

West Lake (Huizhou): The Lake That China Recognizes

Sat, 13 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Doctoroftcm, CC BY-SA 3.0. West Lake Huizhou holds a National AAAAA-level Scenic Spot designation — the highest rating China's tourism authorities award, shared with a very short list of sites. The park's paths loop past the Su Causeway, a memorial to Wang Zhaoyun, and the rebuilt Fenghu Academy. On clear ...

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Image: Doctoroftcm | CC BY-SA 3.0