Ten names for the changing lake

Willows lean towards the water, and the next bridge appears through the trees. Su Shi had this nearly three-kilometre causeway built from material dredged from the lake; its six bridges turn a practical crossing into a long, unhurried encounter with spring.

Leaves spread across the water until the pavilion seems to float among them. The name remembers a Song-era brewery near Hongchun Bridge, where the fragrances of wine and lotus once mingled; today the lotus gardens keep the summer half of that memory alive.

On a still evening, the shore seems to loosen its hold on the sky. Once enjoyed from boats, this moon-viewing scene later found a familiar home beside Gushan, at the western end of Bai Causeway, where open water leaves room for the reflection.

After snowfall, sunlight clears one side of the bridge while white lingers on the other, making the crossing seem to break. At the eastern end of Bai Causeway, an ordinary walk also enters the White Snake legend: rain, a borrowed umbrella, and the beginning of an attachment.

The birds are often heard before they are seen. Near Qingbo Gate on the southeastern shore, drooping willow branches soften ground once occupied by a Southern Song imperial garden; the old scene name gives the smallest singer a place beside the lake.

A red flicker beneath the surface becomes a moving cloud as the fish gather. A flower-lined stream from Huajia Hill gave this southwestern corner its name; a private garden and fish pond grew into the park where blossoms, reflections and darting tails still share the water.

Evening gathers around the tower before the lake loses its light. Leifeng stands on Xizhao Hill, carrying memories of a Wuyue Buddhist pagoda and the White Snake story; the tower seen today rises over the remains of the old one, which collapsed in 1924.

Mist draws a curtain across the hills, then leaves a summit briefly in view. The northern and southern peaks west of the lake supply the two distant notes of this scene: sometimes clear, sometimes little more than suggestions in a wash of cloud.

The view arrives partly through the ear. A bell from Jingci Temple travels towards wooded Nanping Hill, and the landscape seems to hold the sound a little longer; dusk gives the rooftops, trees and water their quietest colours.

Water lies inside the island as well as around it. Beside Xiaoyingzhou, three hollow stone towers recall a famous moonlit spectacle: light through their round openings meets reflections on the lake, multiplying a single moon into a small constellation.