Xi Lake
Willow-lined causeway of packed lake silt, built by thousands of dredging laborers under a Song-dynasty governor.
Location
About this audio guide
This guide to Xi Lake in Hangzhou opens in the spring of 1089, when the poet-official Su Shi arrived to find the lake choking on weed and silt, already half turned to swamp. It follows the tens of thousands of laborers he put to work with poles and baskets, and the causeway that rose from the mud they hauled out of the water. You'll hear how those workers were fed and paid, and how a braised pork dish still carries Su Shi's name through the city today. Walk the causeway now and you're standing on a labor story, not a poem.
This audio guide was created using AI.
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