West Lake

West Lake (Xihu) in Hangzhou is not just a body of water. It is a cultural landscape that has been considered a benchmark of natural beauty for over a millennium, artificially refined by humans to achieve aesthetic and spiritual perfection. Its fame is so great that the phrase "In heaven there is paradise, on earth there are Suzhou and Hangzhou" is known to every Chinese person. Xihu has become the embodiment of this earthly paradise.