Tranquiling Power of Water: Summer Palace Immense Kunming Lake

#chinatrip Kunming Lake is located in the center of the complex and occupies about 75% of its territory.Thanks to the topographical location of the city with a slope descending from northwest to southeast, the lake is located at the junction of hills and plains. Nanhu Island is located on the lake, connected to the rest of the park by the famous Picturesque bridge of 17 arches (十七孔桥) with a length of about 150 meters. This is a magnificent lake on the territory of the Summer Palace. You will definitely see it if you get to the Summer Palace. I highly recommend a boat ride (available only in summer). The first impression is simply fabulous, you will spend an inspection of the Summer Palace walking along this lake. Off note, that Kunming lake is a completely artificial lake! Kunming Lake is an man made lake as it was mentioned just right now, the predecessors of which were called Wenshan Pond (Jar Hell) and Xihu Lake. These were reservoirs that were used as water sources for both the city and for irrigation of fields for 3,500 years. Guo Shou jin, a famous astronomer and engineer at the time, turned it into a reservoir for the capital of the Yuan Dynasty in 1291. The transformation of the territory into an imperial garden was ordered by the Qianlong Emperor, the work was carried out between 1750 and 1764. During the creation of the gardens, the lake's territory was expanded with a workforce of almost 10,000 people. Kunming Lake is designed in such a way as to represent the traditional practice of Chinese horticulture on the principle of "one pond, three hills". Like the islands in the West Lake in Hangzhou and in Lake Taye in the Forbidden City, they were supposed to represent the three islands of the immortals mentioned in the "Classic of Mountains and Seas": Penglai, Yingzhou and Fangzhang. Kunming three are called "South-lake-island", "round Fort island", and "Algæ-watch Hall island". Many of the features of Kunming Lake are inspired by the natural scenery of the region south of the Yangtze River. In particular, the Western Dam is a recreation of the famous Sudi Dam on the West Lake in Hangzhou.