Kunmingchi Qixi Park

This guide to Kunmingchi Qixi Park in Xi'an starts with the more than two thousand demoted officials that Emperor Wu of Han put to hard labor in 120 BCE, digging a basin nearly forty li around by hand with shovels and baskets, not for any war fought here but to drill a navy aimed at a distant, landlocked rival kingdom. You'll hear how the emperor rowed out to inspect the drills, and how the shore was carved with a roaring granite whale and two stone figures representing the cowherd and weaver girl of a love story later tied to the Qixi festival. The lake itself did not last as long as that story did.