West Lake

Because we didn't get to see West Lake on the first day of touring downtown, some more young English teachers were drafted into taking us again the next day. This time, we also had a college van driver who used to be a tour guide, so he knew exactly where to go, and could tell some stories about the various things to the other Chinese speakers for translation.

Our first stop was a part of West Lake near the Broken Bridge. As Tina, the young teacher, told us, this is one of the several famous misnomers in the area, as the bridge is not actually broken. It merely appears that way during the winter when it is covered with snow. The bridge (and causeway) connects two points of land sticking out into the lake, so we walked all the way across it to the other side. On the way, we got a good view of a very tall pagoda on a nearby hill, lots of lotus plants, and many boats out in the lake. People are prohibited from swimming or fishing in the lake by law, but boating is apparently quite popular.

As we walked, the driver/guide told us, via several layers of translation, the story behind West Lake. Once upon a time, there was a young man (a prince?) who fell in love with a woman who was really a snake. The priest of his family disapproved because he knew the woman was a snake, but the prince did not know. The priest contrived to keep them apart. In despair, the prince killed himself, but the snake woman was so in love with him that she journeyed to the underworld to bring him back. (Or maybe it was the other way around. Sounds good either way.) The priest, though, could not allow them to be together, so he trapped their souls apart from one another under a giant urn, which is why there is an island in the middle of the lake that has the shape of an urn. That's what I got, anyway.

Then it was back to the van, once we collected Thomas from talking to nearly every Chinese person on the bridge, and on to the Silk Museum. The museum was blessedly air conditioned, and held a wealth of information about silk production in China. I think I would remember more of it if I had known much about weaving techniques before I went in, but it was interesting nonetheless. After their explanations of all the different types of silk made throughout the various dynasties, they had displays of Chinese fashions through the ages, with explanations of how and why various fashions had changed with the rise and fall of political powers. It was interesting to read about how some rulers had required adherence to the dominant fashion for all, and how others had allowed different cultural groups to keep their own fashions.

After we finished looking at all the exhibits in the museum, we went to the silk shop, and a few people bought things. Most of the goods were pre-made silk clothing, rather than plain cloth, and weren't really my style, so I just looked around. Pretty quickly the clerks figured out who the buyers were in our group, and stuck to following just them around. Oddly enough, they didn't think Lee was a good mark, being the only guy standing in the middle of the women's clothing section.