West Lake
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Hangzhou’s West Lake, located in China’s Zhejiang Province is, without a doubt, the most famous body of water in China. Every child in China knows the many legends and stories which surround the lake. It the dream destination of virtually every Chinese person and had always been a favorite with ancient poets, artists, and China’s Emperors.
Legends of West Lake
There are many legends surrounding West Lake. It really adds to the atmosphere of the lake and visitors on a boat cruise around the lake can see where the legends occurred.
Creation Legend
According to one legend, in the ancient past, the Jade Dragon and Gold Phoenix found a piece of pure white jade in heaven. The Jade Dragon and Gold Phoenix worked tirelessly for many years and eventually turned the lump of white jade into a perfect white ball. The jade ball had magical qualities and wherever the jade ball was taken, trees sprouted and flowers would bloom. The Heavenly Empress heard of the ball and desired it for herself. She ordered her generals to take the jade ball from the Jade Dragon and Gold Phoenix. They went back to the Heavenly Jade Palace and demanded their ball back. The Empress refused and a huge battle ensued. In the midst of the battle, the jade ball was dropped and fell to earth. Upon hitting the earth, it turned into West Lake and the crater pushed up the mountain next to the lake, called ‘Phoenix Hill’.
Legend of Lady White Snake
The most famous of all the West Lake legends is the legend of Lady White Snake. It is known by virtually every Chinese person and has been made into books, movies, and television shows. It tells the story of two snakes, one green and one white. After studying magic for thousands of years, the two snakes manage to transform themselves into women. The two snakes wanted to celebrate their success and decided to stroll around West Lake as a rich woman and her maid. While on their stroll, it began to rain and the two women ran and huddled under a tree near Broken Bridge. A scholar named XuXian saw the two women huddling under the tree and offered them his umbrella. The couple soon fell in love and was married. They started their own medicine shop. Because of Lady White Snake’s magical abilities, she was able to diagnose illnesses immediately and their shop became quite prosperous. One day while Lady White Snake was out delivering medicine, a monk named Fahai stopped by their shop and told XuXian that he was married to a demon. Upon her return to their shop, Lady White Snake found her husband had disappeared. She searched for him for many days. She eventually found that he had been imprisoned by Fahai. She demanded her husband be released and Fahai refused saying that she was not human and so could not be married to XuXian. A huge battle waged between Lady White Snake and the monk. In the end, the monk trapped Lady White Snake under a golden alms bowl. He then imprisoned her in the Leifeng Pagoda and declared that she would not be released until lake dried up, or the pagoda fell over. The pagoda did collapse in 1924 and some witness’ claimed that upon its collapse, a young maid was seen helping a beautiful woman out of the rubble. A pagoda, built in 2000 stands on the original site.
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