Pavilions as Scenic Features

In Chinese gardening art, pavilions are both places to pause for a rest and places to take in fine views from a fixed position. They are also important elements in the aesthetics of architecture in garden design.

The selection of the site for what is called the Mid-Lake Pavilion on an islet south of Solitary Hill and north of the Three Pools Mirroring the Moon shows how clever the designer was. Looking on the lake in all directions, the pavilion, with a yellow glazed-tile roof that has upturned eaves at the four corners which peep out from amidst swaying willows and blossoming trees and flowers, shows a scheme of contrasting colors that lends a more natural look to the pavilion-on-islet setting. Sitting in the pavilion and casting one's eyes around the lake scene, with rippling blue waters nearby and rolling blue hills in the distance, often half hidden in mists or haze, the scenery is indeed most enchanting.

Three Pools Mirroring the moon

Mooring one's boat at the Lesser Fairyland（Xiao Ying Zhou）by the Three Pools Mirroring the Moon and setting foot on land here, one is greeted immediately by the sight of the Memorial Hall of Early Sages（Xian Xian Ci）. After strolling through this building, one comes upon a zigzag bridge built on water that links the northern and the southern side of the ring-shaped Lesser Yingzhou. Here one may feel as though one were stepping into a picture. On the left is the Pavilion That Stands Gracefully Erect （Ting Ting Ting,“tingting”as a Chinese word meaning“graceful and erect”）. Originally named Longevity Pavilion, the pavilion had its name changed later after the poetic line“The three pagodas standing gracefully erect amidst waters blue”by a Ming Dynasty poet named Nie Danian. On the right is a pavilion named Opening the Net（Kai Wang Ting）, as inspired by the Buddhist teaching of leaving the net open for those who have committed wrongdoing. Here the pavilions and the zigzag bridge have not only succeeded in partitioning the surface of this part of the lake but have made the scenery more enticing by giving the place a more varied and level-on-level look.

In a pavilion one will usually see inscribed couplets by famous men of letters on pillars or walls that add color, not just in a literal sense, to it and to the surrounding scenery. For instance, at the scenic sight known as A Placid Lake under the Autumn Moon（Ping Hu Qiu Yue）, an inscribed couplet runs as follows：

A placid lake extends for miles and miles like a mirror,

A luminous moon in all four seasons that's best in fall.

It is a good representation of the artistic conceptualization that inspired the building of the pavilion in such a picturesque setting.

At the back of Solitary Hill there is a pavilion at its foot named Crane Releasing （Fang He Ting）which was built in memory of the aforementioned Song Dynasty poet Lin Hejin who had lived as a hermit here in his day. He spent his days writing poetry and painting and he liked growing plum trees for their flowers and keeping cranes for company. Two lines in a poem of his run as follows and they are still often being chanted by people who admire his taste：

Plum flowers throw their scattered shadows across pellucid waters,

A delicate fragrance pervades floating around under the moon at eventide.

In winter when the plum trees are blooming and exuding a sweet fragrance, one sees the pavilion half-hid in the midst of the trees. Such a view has made the Crane Releasing Pavilion a much-sought-after scenic attraction in Hangzhou.

Famous pavilions with famous inscribed couplets are by no means few and far between in Hangzhou. The fame of a scenic place and the fame of a literary piece may help promote and complement each other. A case in point is the scenic sight named Lotus Flowers Caressed by Breezes in the Old Distillery Garden（Qu Yuan Feng He）northwest of the Rainbow Crossing Bridge on the Su Causeway where in a pavilion with a stone tablet there is an inscription of a famous poem by the Song Dynasty poet Yang Wanli：

The lakeside views are indeed unique in mid-June,

The scenery is different from all other seasons.

Lotus leaves spread out to as far as the eye can see,

And an uncommon red are the lotus flowers in the sun.