The 24 Bridges scenic area of the Slender West Lake is a belt-shaped landscape formed by city rivers from the Sui, Tang, Five Dynasties, Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties.(Shanghai Daily)

Many houses along the L-shaped lake shore were upscale brothels and courtesans in beautiful gowns posed on balconies to attract customers. The lake area glittered with lights from boats and houses. Yangzhou was a place that never slept.

In my imagination, the city symbolized money and fun, a place of delightful decadence built by barons of the salt trade who in mansions along the Slender West Lake.

Thus, I was rather surprised on my first visit to the city - its quiet didn't live up to my expectations, especially at night. Most of the places described in old records are now tourist attractions and are closed in the evenings.

I did take a boat tour at night, not on the Slender West Lake, but along an ancient stretch of the Grand Canal inside the city, one of China's best-preserved stretches of canal.

Since the 1980s, the local government has spent millions to relocate polluting factories and crowded houses along the canal. It cleaned the water, planted trees, built parks and playgrounds and installed colorful lights. The stretch is no longer used for transport, except for sightseeing boats, so it was a very quiet tour. It's hard to imagine how congested and boisterous it once was. But there still are people on the banks, a sharp contrast with the quiet canal, beautiful in its simplicity after its mercantile past has been washed away.

At times, the trees and flowers on the banks remind me of verses from ancient poems describing the "flowery" city. The traditional style of renovated old Ming (1368-1644) and Qing Dynasty buildings help me imagine the canal's past glory.

After the government relinquished its monopoly on the salt trade, entrepreneurs became fabulously wealthy and built mansions for themselves and their extended families.

Visitors can still get a sense of those times by visiting classical gardens or parts of gardens built by these merchants. Many were near the narrow lake, which was a kind of defensive barrier during the Tang and Song (960-1279) dynasties.

The elaborate gardens were landscaped with soil dredged from the lake to build hills and mountains; there were streams and pools, rockeries, pavilions, bridges, winding paths, and carved sheltered walkways. Most gardens were destroyed over the years, but many famous ones have been reproduced and new gardens have been built in the classical style.

Today the lake park covers 1,000 square kilometers and both walking and boating tours afford scenes of different aspects of it.

The lake is a famous moon-appreciation spot where intellectuals and poets watched the orb in its changing phases reflected in the water. Poets particularly worshipped the moon for its changing phases that they linked to emotional ups and downs.

Tang Dynasty poet Xu Ning wrote, "Out of all the splendid moonlight scenery in the world, Yangzhou has two thirds." He referred to the Slender West Lake area.

Wu Ting Bridge, or Five Pavilion Bridge, is one of the best spots for moon gazing. The bridge is named for the five pavilions built above it.