🇨🇳WEST LAKE (XI HU)🏞 West Lake is a freshwater lake in Hangzhou, China. It is divided into five sections by three causeways. There are numerous temples, pagodas, gardens, and artificial islands within the lake. Hangzhou's premier tourist attraction, West Lake and its surrounding gardens, hills, rockeries, temples, pagodas and parks have for centuries inspired poets, officials and tourists with their beauty. West Lake has influenced poets and painters throughout Chinese history for its natural beauty and historic relics, and it has also been among the most important sources of inspiration for Chinese garden designers. It was made a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2011, described as having "influenced garden design in the rest of China as well as Japan and Korea over the centuries" and reflecting "an idealized fusion between humans and nature". This beauty pulls an estimated 12 million domestic tourists and half a million foreign tourists annually making it—and, consequentially, Hangzhou—one of China's most tourist-heavy locales. 白蛇传 LEGEND OF THE WHITE SNAKE Set in the Song Dynasty (960-1279AD), there was once a young boy named Xu Xian who saved a white snake who was actually a spirit named Bai Suzhen. Years later, the boy became a scholar and met a beautiful lady with an umbrella at the "Broken Bridge" by the West Lake. As it was raining and he did not have an umbrella, the lady offered him hers and left. Unknown to Xu Xian, this lady was the White Snake Spirit he had saved and she had returned to repay his kindness by helping him whenever he needed a hand. They fell in love and their marriage produced a son. However, their union was against heavenly laws as mortal and demons belonged to different realms, so when they were discovered by Fa Hai, a monk who had magical powers, Fa Hai forced Bai to reveal her true form in the hope that Xu would leave her. As the couple genuinely loved each other this attempt failed, so Fa Hai imprisoned Bai in the Leifeng Pagoda for all eternity. In some versions of this legend, Xu raised their son to become an imperial top scholar who returned to pay respect to his mother, and as a result of her son’s filial piety, the heavens were touched and Bai was released. She attained immortality and rose to the celestial realm, forever unable to reunite with her family because of the heavenly laws. Although this version is not as tragic as her eternal imprisonment in the pagoda, it is still considered a tragic ending as the lovers are still separated for all eternity. Today, Bai is regarded by the people as a kind and loving fairy despite superstitiously being considered a spirit, which, in folklore, is equivalent to a demon. To many, the Broken Bridge at Baidi (Bai Causeway) epitomizes the lingering remnants of the couple's eternal love and evanescent dreams. 雷锋塔 LEIFING PAGODA is a five story tall tower with eight sides, located on Sunset Hill south of the West Lake in Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China. Originally built in AD 977, during the reign of King Qian Chu of the kingdom of Wu and Yue, it was named Huang Fei Pagoda after the old king's favorite concubine who gave him a son. People would also steal the foundation bricks of the pagoda for two reasons. Firstly, many believed that the 'golden bricks' would bring them wealth, while secondly, the pagoda was said to have the power to repel snakes, having been renamed Leifeng Pagoda according to the Legend of the White Snake. 🌐https://wgly.hangzhou.gov.cn/art/2013/7/24/art_1229483200_58931785.html#:~:text=The%20Story%20of%20West%20Lake,sent%20someone%20to%20steal%20it. #china #xijingping #wuzhen #hangzhouasiangames #westlake #xihu #whitesnake #leifingpagoda #leifing #pagoda #shuangtoubridge #longbridge #brokenbridge #euroairlink #travel #foryou #foryoupage #foryoupage #foryourpage #foryoupageofficiall #foryoupage❤️❤️ #tiktok #tiktokviral #lawyersoftiktok #lawyers #prosecutor #fiscal #ocpnagacity 🛍 smgo.ph @Lilia C. Tejerero @Tonet Barako @A and J PET SUPPLIES