Discover Hangzhou
Gushan Island and Autumn Moon on Calm Lake
孤山 / 平湖秋月
A low wooded island at the north of the lake holding the Zhejiang Provincial Museum's old hall, the Xiling Seal Engravers' Society and the waterside terrace of Pinghu Qiuyue. It is the cultural heart of West Lake and almost entirely free.
The story
What makes this place special
Gushan, Solitary Hill, is the only natural island in West Lake, at the north end of the lake and joined to the shore by the Bai Causeway. It has been an imperial and scholarly enclave for a very long time - the Qing emperors had a travelling palace here, which is why the Zhejiang Provincial Museum's original site and the Zhongshan Park occupy the old palace grounds. The Xiling Seal Engravers' Society, founded on the island in 1904, is the most important institution in Chinese seal carving and still has its premises here. 'Autumn Moon on the Calm Lake' is the Ten Scenes viewpoint at the island's eastern end, where the Bai Causeway arrives; the title was inscribed by the Kangxi emperor.
What you’ll discover
A low wooded hill you can walk round in half an hour, with the lake on all sides. Along the south shore run the Pinghu Qiuyue waterside terrace - a stone platform and open hall built right out over the water, the single best place to sit and look at West Lake - the Louwailou restaurant, the Zhejiang Provincial Museum's Gushan site in the old palace buildings, Zhongshan Park, and the Xiling Seal Society's gardens and halls climbing the hillside. The tomb of the courtesan Su Xiaoxiao and a scatter of pavilions and steles are around the island, and the Xiling Bridge at the western end connects it on towards the Yue Fei Temple.
A little local insight
Good to know before you go
- Sit on the Pinghu Qiuyue terrace at dusk. It is free, it projects out over the water facing south across the whole lake, and it is the viewpoint the Ten Scenes list was actually naming. Most visitors photograph the stele and walk on.
- Go into the Xiling Seal Society grounds. They are free, almost nobody goes in, and the terraced garden of inscribed rocks, pavilions and the little pagoda on the hilltop is the most atmospheric corner of West Lake - plus it is the headquarters of the art form.
- Walk the island's north shore for quiet. Everyone does the south-facing lakeside; the back of the island looks over the small Beili Lake and is empty.
- This is the cheap, short, crowd-free alternative to a causeway slog: the island plus Bai Causeway is under three kilometres and takes in a museum, a park, a famous restaurant and the best viewpoint on the lake.
- Louwailou is the historic restaurant here and is worth it for the setting and the West Lake vinegar fish, but it is priced accordingly and queues at peak times - book or eat early.
When to come
Dusk, from the Pinghu Qiuyue terrace, or early morning. Autumn, as the name implies, and especially around the mid-autumn full moon, which is the occasion the scene was named for.
Getting around
Good along the lakeside, harder on the hill. The island's shore road and the Pinghu Qiuyue terrace are flat and paved and reachable directly off the level Bai Causeway, so a wheelchair user can get to the best viewpoint on West Lake without a single step. The Zhejiang Museum's Gushan buildings are historic and have steps; the Xiling Seal Society garden is a terraced hillside of stone steps and is not accessible. Lakeside shuttle buses serve the shore.
Worth knowing before you go
Climb the steps behind the Xiling Seal Society to the small hilltop pavilion - almost nobody does, and it gives a free view as good as some paid ones. Pinghu Qiuyue terrace is best just after sunset.
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