Shanghai Expat: April 2010: Hangzhou Overview

Di Yin and I visited Hangzhou and its famous West Lake on Friday and Saturday, April 23-24, 2010.

Hangzhou is incredible! Or, more precisely, the parks/gardens surrounding the West Lake (and the islands and land bridges within) are incredible. They're fabulously green, lush, and gorgeous -- nicer than any park I can remember in a long time, including St. James Park in London. There were many people taking wedding pictures around the lake. I can see why.

Better yet, these grounds are enormous. We spent two days walking them yet walked only a fraction. It's amazing the sheer quantity of land that has been landscaped/sculpted to such a high standard of beauty. There are countless nice places to walk, and tons of bridges (in various architectural styles) to cross and to simply enjoy seeing. These parks are so expansive that they can absorb the tourist crowds. We often found ourselves walking on less crowded paths or even, at times, in entirely tranquil areas with nary a soul in sight.

It's no wonder that we saw a lot of people picnicking and many others playing cards/Chinese chess/whatever. Basically, any excuse to spend more time in this area.

People in Shanghai make a big deal about the Bund, but this is an order of magnitude better and I think even saying Hangzhou and the Bund in the same sentence is insulting to Hangzhou. It's a different caliber.

All that said, Hangzhou the city is pretty nice too. Hangzhou (at least the part I saw near the West Lake) is like Shanghai's downtown but less crowded, more modern, and with many more trees (on both medians and sidewalks), and with dedicated bike/bus lanes. (Yes, unlike Shanghai, Hangzhou has enough space to frequently have medians in the middle of their roads.) Furthermore, even though it's much more of a tourist-centered city than Shanghai, I was never offered anything to buy, nothing like Shanghai's touts suggesting "watch, watch, shoes?"

I feel I should mention a bit of background about Hangzhou. It's got a long history, though most relics have been destroyed by fires, wars, and the cultural revolution. It's long been known as a home for Chinese literati. In addition, it's got its own style of cuisine, which also has a long history (longer than Shanghai's style by a substantial margin). These last two sentences are probably related: educated people with cultured hobbies likely have sophisticated tastes.

As for the West Lake--although you wouldn't believe it from its size--it's actually man-made by various emperors over the years. (That's why it's so shallow: it's on average 2 meters deep.) It began as a lagoon. Different rulers added islands (which they then artistically gardened), land bridges, and various estates near the lake. It was very developed by the time Marco Polo made it to Hangzhou in the 13th century and marveled at its beauty and thousands of bridges. Usually when I hear guidebooks describing what an ancient traveler said about a place, I find the description not particularly accurate or representative. In this case, however, Marco Polo was right. It is a splendid place and there are lots of bridges.

By the way, the weather was great during our visit to Hangzhou, and our experience was further enhanced by the diminished pollution compared Shanghai.

Incidentally, there are other sites in Hangzhou I want to see and other places near and on the West Lake where I want to walk. On this trip, we only got to sample some of the Hangzhou's attractions.