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Green Lake (Cuihu) Park
The Green Lake Park, situated at the
western foot of Wuhua Hill, is a scenically beautiful park
inside the city. By the end of the Yuan Dynasty, it was
still a swampy field for growing vegetables, lotuses and
rice, hence the name "Vegetable Lake". The water-level
of Dianchi Lake was then so high that it was connected with
the Green Lake. That is why we have the couplet: "Dianchi
Lake spreads five hundred li; the Vegetable Lake merges
with it." As there were nine mouths of springs beyond
the Bamboo Island in the northeast, the lake was also called
"The Nine-Dragon Pond". It now covers fifteen
hectares of land. Since 1985, the red-pecked seagulls from
Siberia have been spending the winter months on Green Lake.
There used to be a scenically beautiful
island at the centre of the lake. In the year 1382, Mu Ying,
the Garrison Commander, started building the capital of
Yunnan Province in Kunming, and the Green Lake was enclosed
within the brick walls of the city. A military structure,
called "the Liu (Willows) Barracks", was built,
which was later changed into a villa for the Mu family.
In 1692, Wang Jiwen, the provincial governor, built the
Biyiting (literally Green Ripples Pavilion), commonly called
Haixinting (a Pavilion in the Centre of the Lake). Two long
banks divide the Lake into four parts. Embraced by willow
trees along the banks dotted with a variety of lotuses,
with the delightful contrast between the weeping willows
and the lotuses, the lake offers a scene of freshness, serenity,
and beauty, hence the graceful name "The Green Lake".
The main attractions include lotuses, fish, willow trees
and pavilions. Ling Shiyi, a Cantonese in the Qing Dynasty,
wrote in a couplet: Fishes teem in the ten-mu lotus pond;
over half the city poplars and willows are caressing pavilions."
It is a superb description of the scenery.
The Haixinting Pavilion is at the centre
of the Lake. On the north and south stand imposingly two
octagonal pavilions with craved beams and painted rafters
and beautiful glazed tiles and elegant eaves. Inside the
Haixinting there are two courtyards, where all kinds of
shows are held throughout the four seasons: flower shows,
lantern shows, fish shows and picture shows. Flowers and
trees are growing luxuriantly in the yards. On the west
of the pavilion are buildings for fish-watching. There is
a two-storey pavilion on which hangs a horizontal board
inscribed with four characters meaning "Drunk in spring
in the abode of immortals" and facing north is a fish-watching
pavilion. The lake, its banks and the pavilions are wonderfully
arranged, and the painted corridor alongside the lake and
the zigzag bridge are well connected. All the buildings
have yellow and green glazed tile roofs, with corners seeming
to fly and beams and rafters colourfully painted, typifying
Chinese classical park designs. On the Fish-Watching Pavilion
there is a couplet written by Huang Kuiguang, a scholar
from Fujian in the Qing Dynasty: "There stands a pavilion
that flanks the lake, taking upon one tenth of its area;
at leisure I'll come to drink alone under the moon and immediately
become one of the three." The other two refer to the
moon and his own reflection in the pond. This couplet has
been chosen many times as one of the most famous couplets
depicting landscapes in China.
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East of the pavilion there is a big tree-surrounded
garden consisting of three tiny peninsulas which form a
garden within the garden. In the garden Chinese flowering
crabapple trees bloom like red clouds, camellias and azalea
give off sweet scent and weeping willows bow gently. On
the lake float small boats presenting a scene of bursting
life.
On the Gourd Island in the southwest, there
are rows of palm trees dotted with groves of banana herbs,
under which is a carpet of green grass. The Nine-Bend Bridge
zigzags in the lake. Here is an eye-catching sub-tropical
scene for the tourists. On the northeastern corner is the
Bamboo-Groves Island. Along the banks are bamboos and azaleas
intertwined with vines. Around the Nine-Dragon Pond is a
big garden, where people enjoy the potted landscape and
celebrate the Spring Festival. On the Children's Playground,
located on the southwestern side of the lake, the dragon
rollicking in the water, the flying merry-go-round rotating
in the air, and the miniature train rushing round and round
give children fun and make them laugh.
Every winter, thousands of red-beaked sea
gulls from the north migrate to the scenically beautiful
Green Lake Park. These sea gulls swooping over the water
and scrambling with one another for crumbs of food, make
the park even more glamorous.
Early in the morning, hundreds of
people, men and women, young and old, come to the banks
of the lake to practise boxing, jogging, singing, and sword-dancing.
It is full of life everywhere. In the evening, people come
to have a stroll, to enjoy the scenery, or to chant antiphonal
singing, amidst willows on the lake banks, feeling carefree
and contented.
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