Southern Lake

In the south of Hongcun Village, the Southern Lake was built in 1607 (the year of Dingwei of the Wanli Period in the Ming Dynasty). Starting from the Yongle Period to the Wanli Period, there was a great boosting in Hongcun Village's population and the housing, for which water in the Moon Pond became far from enough. Therefore, in the year of Dingwei of the Wanli Period, hundreds of mu of farmlands in the south of Hongcun Village were deeply digged for building the Southern Lake with stones laid around it, by following the scene of “the peaceful lake and the autumnal moon” of the West Lake. The lake is in general lune, with a double-storeied bank. The upper storey is 4m wide, with tall and age-old trees flourishing, green vines intwining their trunks, and beasts and birds singing among them; there are also the weeping willows, their twigs waving gracefulling, as young ladies dressing up before the mirror, and sprinkling their long and elegant hair in the lake; green lotus waves on the surface, and duck play with the water, ——all add to the charm of this scene. Upon the surface there are the inverted images of the mountains far away and the houses nearby in water, mingling with the sky, the shade of trees, and the sunshine, into a piece of harmony that appears to be profund, elegant, and resplendent. The lake has been heavily repaired three times, with the middle bank rebuilt in the year of 1986, plus the creation of the absorbing “painting bridge”, which enables people to boat from the east to the west.

In the autumn of the year of Jiashu, the Jiaqing Period of the Qing Dynasty, Wu Xilin, a personage in Qiantang (today's Hangzhou), Zhejiang Province, wrote a piece saying that “…the grandness of the Southern Lake in Hongcun Village can be compared with that of the West Lake in Zhejiang”, for which the Southern Lake gets another name——“the little West Lake at the foot of Mountain Huangshan”.

From the ancient time until now, many poets and painters have indited pieces after their visit to the Southern Lake.

“The endless soft raindrops wet the spring earth / The singing of little birds is heard in the mist / Poplars and willows look like beauties knitting their brows, while peach blossoms seem to be smiling young ladies / Chanting they are while going across westward the ‘painiting bridge’”,——these eulogizing lines further add to the charm of the lake which is submerged in the harmony of feelings and sceneries.

Publishes at : 07-10-18 22:27

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