Top Ten Scenes of the West Lake-Autumn Moon over the Calm Lake
As one of the top ten scenes of the West Lake, the Autumn Moon over the Calm Lake had no regular spot address in South Song Dynasty, which is not difficult to been seen from the poems and prose chanting this scene most from the angle of boating on the lake at night and appreciating moon from the boat by literati at that time and in Yuan and Ming dynasties, for example, the poem of Sun Rui in South Song Dynasty says that “the cold moon and spring seem to be frozen and can’t move and flow, we sing the fisherman’s songs and don’t know where to go boating”; and Hong Zhanzu writes in his poems that: “Go sightseeing on a boat in autumn days, the ethereal mountains and pavilions reflected in the mirror-like lake seems as if a wonderland”. In the woodcut painting about top ten scenes of the West Lake spreading through the ages, created during the reign of Emperor Wan Li in Ming Dynasty, the painting Autumn Moon over the Calm Lake also takes the scene of tourists lifting his head to look the moon in a boat on the lake as the main picture.
The present Autumn Moon over the Calm Lake scenic spot is located at the west end of Bai Causeway with Gu Mountain at its back and Wai Lake in front of it. In Tang Dynasty, Wanghu Pavilion was built here, and Dragon King Shrine was built here in Ming Dynasty. During the reign of Emperor Kangxi in Qing Dynasty, this scenic spot was named as Autumn Moon over the Calm Lake. Whenever the clear and crisp autumn climate comes, the lake is as smooth as a mirror, the bright autumn moon hangs in the sky. At that time, the moon light and the lake water add radiance and charm to each other, which is full of the feeling that “a lake full of the autumn moon light”. Therefore, a monument with the title “Autumn Moon over the Calm Lake” is erected at the bank of lake.