断桥

About this audio guide

This guide to Broken Bridge in Hangzhou opens with a riddle: why is a bridge that has never cracked called broken? It finds one answer in a seasonal illusion, where melting snow splits the arch's two faces into different shades and made this one of West Lake's ten classic views. Then it turns to the legend that actually built the bridge's fame, of a white snake named Bai Suzhen who trained herself into human form and met a young man named Xu Xian here on a rainy day. Local guides still point to this exact spot as where the two first sheltered under one umbrella.