SOUTH-AND-NORTH LAKES, HAIYAN
Written towards the end of 1991
Translated by Qian Jingyu
Having paid quite a few visits to the South-and-North Lakes1, I come to the conclusion that this scenic zone in Haiyan county, Zhejiang province, is the place to be
With mountains, waters and the sun to admire,
And teas, oranges and bamboo shoots to savor.
Occupying 1,600 mu on the East China Sea coast between Shanghai and Hangzhou, the South-and-North Lakes look more exquisite than the West Lake of Hangzhou and more ethereal than the Slender West Lake of Yangzhou. A dyke2 divides what used to be the Yongan Lake or Ganshui Lake in two, hence its present name. There is a bridge and a pavilion on either end of the dyke. On the east end stands the Star Pavilion, built in commemoration of Hu Die (1908-1989), a Shanghai Mingxing Film Company superstar who shot the movie Salt Tide here on location in 1932; on the west end is the Memorial Pavilion of Dong Bai (1624-1651), where this talented courtesan from Nanjing buried flower petals after she settled down in Haiyan with her husband Mao Xiang (1611-1693) to shun war and turmoil during the Ming-Qing transition period.
Blue waves ripple and sparkle under the sun while flocks of white egrets dance in the sky. The lakeside itself is strewn with orange and pear orchards, with pink peach flowers blooming amidst green willows in spring and branches weighed down with fruits in autumn—a fabulous landscape that mingles with local dwellings' whitewashed walls and black-tiled roofs to conjure up one idyllic scenery after another. Added to the allure of the South-andNorth Lake Scenic Zone are a host of tourist attractions, including "Wild Goose Diving at Sinking Rainbow,"3 "Dawn at Jing Mound," and "Thatched Hut on Western Brook,"4 each having its own mesmerizing sight to offer.
A footpath beginning at the dyke's western end conducts to a mountain that changes the scenery as it stands to the left, with the lake lying to the right. This is none other than the "Ridge in Remembrance of Gu Kuang5," a Tang-dynasty Haiyan native and poet who often came here to get lost for a while in the landscape. As the footpath extends further west, it is hemmed in between two steep cliffs, where little birds twitter incessantly to echo a susurrating roadside rivulet. While the terrain twists and turns to usher in a succession of fascinating views, the footpath climbs up the slope for 250 or so meters before stopping at the foot of the well-known Stone Fort of Celestial Tan's Mountain6.
Small though the Stone Fort is, it reigns over a jumble of high mountains. Built entirely of monoliths, it looks breathtaking and precipitous, so much so that the locals call it "Badaling Fort7 South of the Yangtze." Take a look around atop the fort's turret, and everything comes into vivid sight, with the South-and-North Lakes of Haiyan to the east and the field of Huangwan township of Haining to the west. As the Celestial Tan's Mountain sits at the juncture of the Haining-Haiyan boundaries, it was a bone of contention between warring strategists in bygone years. During the Ming dynasty it was garrisoned by the legendary General Qi Jiguang (1528-1588) and his warriors in resistance against Japanese pirates. By the time of the 1840-1842 and 1856-1860 Opium Wars, the Qing government rebuilt the fort to keep Western invaders at bay; and a stone statue of Xu Xingjian (?-1556)8, a Ming-dynasty anti-Japanese hero and commander of the Haining Garrison, is erected here for worshippers in recent times.
Sauntering across a woodland with a tea plantation on it, one espies a tip of vermillion walls of the venerated Nunnery at Cloud-Enshrouded Peak9 on the other side of a bamboo forest. As a domain of the Bodhisatva Avalokitesvara, the temple is also known for its "Eight Cloud-Enshrouded Sights"—the Snow-Hole Spring, the Ming-dynasty gingko tree, the Scripture Library, the Homecoming Birds' Kiosk, the ancient stage, the great castiron tripod, the Celestial Crane Pool, and the Small Attainment Pagoda. The mineral water spewing from the Snow-Hole Spring is the choicest for brewing tea. For these scenic gems, the CloudEnshrouded Peak is extolled as a "celebrated mountain on the sea," and its nunnery was known in old days as the Evening Potalaka.10
Further south along the footpath stands the Eagle-Nest Pinnacle, the site of an astronomical miracle in which the sun and the moon rise simultaneously on the morning of the first day of the tenth lunar month every year. At the foot of the pinnacle lies the Yellow Sand Nook, home to a village with an eight-century-long tradition in orange farming. Surrounded on three sides by mountains, with its southern side facing the sea, the nook is warm in autumn and cool in summer—a favorable microclimate that enables orange trees to bear golden and sweet fruit that account for eighty percent of the total annual output of oranges in the Hangzhou-Jiaxing-Huzhou area. A trail runs northward along the ridge of the Eagle-Nest Pinnacle and leads to the osmanthus-covered Northern Woody Mountain, where flowers bloom and tree saplings flourish all year round. Adding to the glamour of this place are also such scenic attractions as the Golden Buffalo Cave and cliff carvings on the Tea Mill Mountain.
To sum up, the South-and-North Lakes are characterized by mountains that rise range upon range, waters that twist and turn endlessly, and a seascape that brims with exotic sights. The entire scenic zone exudes dynamic vigour and demure grace that provide inspirations for men of letters and prototypes for ink-and-wash landscape painters in the Northern Song tradition. In terms of scenic appeals, the South-and-North Lake is none the inferior to the West Lake of Hangzhou. While the West Lake excels in glamorous feminine beauty, the South-and-North Lakes are at her delicate best—in other words, they make a perfect pair of siblings. For this reason, you can never crack the secret code to West Lake's heavy make-up without taking a look at the South-and-North Lakes. It is high time that you went to the South-and-North Lakes for a look around!