New Top Ten Scenes of the West Lake-Bamboo-lined Path at Yunqi
This scenic spot, located at the Yunqi Cove at the southern foot of Wuyun Mountain, is a mountain cove landscape with luxuriant woods and has been famous for its remote mountains and ancient temples, bamboo path and sound of chime stone.
The Emperor Kangxi has been to Yunqi four times, composing poems and inscribing tablets, and he granted the name “Royal Bamboo” to a big bamboo, for which the magistrate in Zhejiang built “Imperial Book Pavilion” and “Royal Bamboo Pavilion” in memory of that event. After 43 years, the Emperor Qianlong went to Hangzhou during his inspection tour of the south and went to Yunqi six times. After the waning days of Qing Dynasty, the Yunqi bamboo forest was repeatedly destroyed and didn’t have the original appearance. During the time of Hangzhou falling into enemy’s hands in the Anti-Japanese War, many bamboo forests were cut down and they are almost extinct. After 1950, under the caring of Hangzhou Municipal Garden Department, the bamboo forests were gradually rejuvenated, temples were renovated and tea houses were opened. In the present bamboo-lined path at Yunqi, green bamboos are shady, brooks utter the ding dong sound, incomparably cool and refreshing. The paths wind and go deep into the forest, the murmuring clear brooks go down along the path and the sweet and agreeable chirrup comes from the forest, which makes the whole environment quiet and refreshing.