East Lake

The

East Lake

  is a famous tourist attraction in

Shaoxing

, China. The lake used to be a Mountain named Bluestone Mountain. The mountain was rich in blue stones, which were hard and of wide use. As a result, it became a quarry in Han Dynasty. And later in Sui Dynasty, the quarrying was largely expanded. As the time went by, half the mountain was cut away by diligent quarrymen continuously from generation to generation. And later rainwater pours out of the rock and the water from the neighboring river: Zhedong Canal flowed into the quarry. As a result, the quarry gradually became a lake. In late Qing Dynasty, some one, who loved the beautiful landscape around the lake, embanked the lake, which separated the lake from the river.

In the

East Lake

, there are multi-shaped rocks and deep ponds. It will be a great pleasure for you to enjoy its beauty in a black awning boat. Passing Bijia Mountain, you will see an inscribed poem, which was written by Guo Moruo in 1962 when he visited the lake, just in front of you. When the boat floats into

Taogong Cave

, you will feel some beads of water falling on you. The water in the cave is dark green. Inside the cave, there is a place named Ting Qiu Ting, where you can listen to the water falling from wall crack into the lake. Get out of Taogong Cave and go up along a 1-meter-long plank path to the mountaintop. You can have an aerial view of the countryside. The scattered villages, a crisscross network of country roads, and the beautiful scenery of water will soon help you forget all kinds of miseries in life.

Go back to your boat and drift on. Passing by

Xia Chuan

  and

Yinlu Pavilion

, you will reach Xiantao Cave, which looks like a stone chamber and is quite deep. There is a stone wall standing in the middle. The wall is thin and smooth. There is a hole, which looks like a peach, on the wall. And beside the hole, there is an exaggerated while interesting couplet. It reads “The cave seems bottomless and the peach blossoms every three thousand years.” The rock opposite looks like a stone chair, and people call it God’s Chair. To the west of Xiantao Cave is an islet, on which there are clusters of sweet-scented osmanthus trees. In autumn, you will smell the special fragrance of osmanthus blossoms far away. Head for the north and you will see an old bridge: Qin Bridge. It is said that the bridge has a history of thousands of years. Go eastwards to Taoshe Memorial House, which was built in memory of Tao Chengzhang, a sage of Shaoxing, who sacrificed his life to save the nation. In June, 1918, Mr. Sun Yat-sen make a special visit to the house to commemorate Tao Chengzhang and take photographs as a remembrance.