Fanli Lake

 

Regarded as a well-known relic during the Wu and Yue States Period, Fanli Lake, where illustrious General Fanli with Beauty Xishi lived in seclusion later after his helping the king of Yue defeat the state of Wu, is now a famous scenic spot in Jiaxing. The lake is 100 meters in length, 15 meters in width, and it occupies 5351 square meters. Remarkable for its waterscape, there goes a story that Beauty Xishi elaborately made up every day and accidentally poured the make up powders into the lake. The spiral shells ate them and turned to be colorful, thus the colorful spiral shell got its name. Fanli Lake used to be named “The Tomb of Beauty Xishi”. That’s because Xishi was said to die here and buried in the lake. Poets in Song and Qing Dynasties wrote poems for her and bear witness to the beautiful love story.

On the northwestern bank of the lake stands a pavilion, namely Xishi’s dressing table. There were both Fanli’s and Xishi’s statues existing at the very beginning, presently remaining two stone tablets inscribed “Fanli memorial” and “Fubi” (浮碧). Besides the hand writing “Fubi” by Wen Zhengming, there left many scripts by renowned calligraphists in successive dynasties.