Early twentieth century photographs of China’s most beautiful lake.
The West-lake has been famous throughout China since the Tang dynasty, when its scenic virtues were extolled by a large number of poets. The Gaozong emperor established the Southern Song capital on its shores (Lin’an, modern-day Hangzhou) in 1136 and since then it has been a city of gardens, temples, and pagodas. Two of China’s best loved poets, Bai Juyi and Su Dongpo, were governors of Hangzhou for a brief period, and the latter left a permanent mark in the form of a long causeway which he built in order to prevent the lake from silting-up. By the Qing dynasty a canon of famous scenes had been established, that were recorded in guide-books, poems and scroll paintings and the present album can be seen as a continuation of this tradition.
The present album opens up with four views of the various artificial causeways that cut through the lake. The oldest one, the Bai-dike, was constructed in 822 by the poet and governor of Hangzhou, Bai Juyi (772-846). This causeway was built using the earth recovered from dredging the lake. Other building projects followed together with palaces and gardens that were built along the shore and by the 13th century there was already a canon of famous scenes that were celebrated in paintings and poetry. It is difficult to overstate the significance of this: They became famous throughout China as an example of good Confucian governance and it inspired garden construction not only in China (Yiheyuan, Bishu Shanzhuang) but also in Japan (Shiba Rikyu, Korakuen). The Kangxi Emperor visited the lake and in 1699 he named ten scenes which were inscribed on stone steles which were place around the lake at carefully chosen spots.
Other photos in the album include the Leifeng pagoda, the ‘Three ponds mirroring the Moon’, and a variety of other architectural and scenic views. Rare.
