Situated at the foot of Turtle Hill and the southern edge of West Lake Scene Zone, Hangzhou Southern Song Imperial Kiln Museum is a building feature on typical architectural style of the Song Dynasty. It falls into two sections: exhibition hall and the site. The exhibition hall consists of three rooms. The first room displays some unearthed ancient porcelain articles, the second room reflects the history of China's ancient porcelain and social, political and economic conditions during the construction of the imperial kiln, the third room presents the latest achievements of porcelain research and some copied imperial kiln articles. The site covers an area of 1,700 square meters, including a protection hall and a corridor. It is the biggest historical site protection building in China. In the site, there are some ancient kiln tools and equipments which have very high research value.

At the south end of Su Causeway, near the small southern lake, there is a small but gorgeous and elegant garden with dignified buildings. The hall has abundance collections of poems, calligraphy and painting, statuary and inscriptions on tablets. The garden was built to monumentalizes Su Dongpo. All displays introduce the distribution to the West Lake and life stories of Su Shi, the worthiest local magistrate in Hangzhou throughout history.

Su Shi (1037-1101), also known as Su Dongpo in the Chinese literary world, was born in Meishan, Sichuan Province. He served as an official of Hangzhou twice in his life. He had the West Lake dredged and a long causeway across the lake built, which was later named after him. His poetic and prosaic writings the charm and beauty of the West Lake best display his profound passion for Hangzhou and great pleasures he felt while appreciating the lake.

Talking about his love of the lake, Su Dongpo went so far as to say that he must have been a Hangzhou native in his previous lives. He spoke highly of the West Lake as “pretty in a gay dress and pretty in a simple gown” and “there is no such great natural beauty back home”. A government official of unique character and a great poet of rare artistic achievements, Su Dongpo left behind him chapters after chapters of poems and prosaic writings as well as inscriptions for tablets, all these being about Hangzhou. In these literary creations, Su Dongpo wrote down his wisdom and foresight based on Hangzhou's natural attractions that he was in deep love with. What he wrote about the enchanting lake and what he contributed to Hangzhou's prosperity created many much-told stories and legends of his political achievements. In the eyes and hearts of later generations of Hangzhou local people, he was a pragmatic achiever as well as a bosom friend of the West Lake and the hero of Hangzhou. Su Dongpo was a model whose achievements and glories governors of Hangzhou later have vied each other to emulate. Besides the Su Causeway, there are many other scenes connected directly with the name of Su Dongpo. For example, the Lake View Pavilion at the foot of Precious Stone Hill, stone with inscriptions on Damai Hill, the Crossing Stream Pavilion in Longjing (Dragon Well) and the poetic stele about meditations on flower in Wu Hill. A great amount of his poems and writings about the West Lake have already been the indispensable part of historical and cultural treasury of the West Lake.

Li Shutong Memorial is in the bosom of mountains, near Hupao Spring, a top tourist attraction in Hangzhou. There used to be a Buddhist monastery on site where Li Shutong practised Buddhism a Buddhist monk. Li was a famous artist, patriot, and eminent monk in the 20th century China.

Born in Pinghu County of Zhejiang Province, Li Shutong (1880-1942) had studied abroad in Japan. A great virtuoso of oil painting, music, modern drama and calligraphy, Li taught at Liangzhe Normal College. At the age of 39, Li suddenly gave up all his worldly concerns and converted himself to Buddhism.

He took the tonsure in Hupao Temple of the West Lake. His Buddhist name was Yanyin alias Hongyi. Later he named himself Wanqing Old Man. After outbreak of the War Against Japanese Invasion, Master Hongyi called that “Buddhists should never forget to love the country.” His appeal reverberated through China.

Li Shutong was one of the vanguards in ushering a new epoch in Chinese contemporary culture. He took active part in performance of “civil drama” (modern drama), and wrote songs to sing of beauty of the West Lake. His students include some top men such as Feng Zhikai. His seal cuttings and handwriting of Amitabha Buddhist Scripture are among the best treasure in the vast artistic collection at the Xiling Seal Society. The pagoda-shaped tomb of the Buddhist Master Hongyi stands beside the Tiger Spring pond.

At the south side of Xiling Bridge is the grave of Qiu Jin flanked by flowers, pines and cypresses against hills. There rest the soul of Qiu Jin, a martyr who died in 1907 for overthrowing the Qing Dynasty. With great ambition and dedication to China's modernization, Qiu called herself a female warrior of Jian Lake and fought bravely. Visitors and passers-by solute her when they pass the tomb.

Qiu Jin was born in Shanyin (today's Shaoxing) of Zhejiang Province in 1875. She had studied in Japan. During her stay in Japan, she joined the Recovery League and the Chinese Revolutionary League. Qiu Jin was in charge of Shaoxing Datong School in 1907. She used the school as a base to get associated with revolutionaries and plot uprisings against the Qing Dynasty.

In July 1907, the uprising she had masterminded was aborted and thwarted due to the secret made known to the government. She was arrested and executed on 15th July.

Qiu Jin had come to Hangzhou for revolutionary work many times. Many of her poems describe the beautiful West Lake.

On December 10, 1912, Dr. Sun Yet-san held a memorial ceremony at Qiu Jin's grave personally. He wrote an elegiac couplet: “We should praise the Chinese Revolutionary League, and deeply cherish this great female warrior of Jian Lake.”

In 70 years, Qiu Jin's remains had been buried 10 times since the first burial until 1981 when her grave was rebuilt at the south side of Xiling Bridge. On the top of her tomb stood the statue of Qiu Jin made of white marble. There she leans on a sharp sword, looking valiant and heroic.

In the beautiful landscape of West Lake long sleep the martyrs' souls of the Revolution of 1911.

In 1981, the remains of Xu Xiling, Tao Chengzhang, Ma Zonghan, Chen Boping, Shen Youzhi, Yang Zheshang etc. martyrs, and the soldiers & generals in Zhejiang army who died in the battle of Jinling Besiege in the Revolution of 1911, were reburied in Nan Tianzhu, on the site of former Yanfu Temple at the foot of Mountain Fenghuang.

This place is now the Zhejiang Revolution of 1911 Martyrs Tombs, the historical site under province-level protection. In 1991, a set of sculptures for martyrs and a granite monument named “the souls of national heroes never die” were erected inside the garden of graves.

On October 10, 1997, a 266-square-meters memorial was opened near the tombs.

Inside the memorial is a five-part exhibition of the past heroic deeds. “The tide of revolution welled up from Qiantang River”, “The Recovery League”, “The Uprisings of Recovery League in Zhejiang and Anhui”, “The Recovery League of Zhejiang in 1911”, “Fight for the Construction and Defense of Republicanism”.

The exhibition tells the heroic stories about the democratic revolution, and serves as an additional site around the West Lake for patriotism education.