East Lake Scenic Area
(Source: nipic.com)
East Lake, the biggest scenery tourist attraction in Wuhan and also the largest lake within a city in China, is located on the south bank of the Yangtze River and in the east suburb of Wuchang. It covers an area of 87 square kilometers (33 square kilometers of water area), five times greater than the area of the West Lake in Hangzhou. Because of its winding banks and crisscrossing ponds and brooks, it is called 'a lake with 99 bays'. The East Lake Scenic Area was formed from many famous scenic spots along the bank, including Tingtao (Listening to Surging Waves), Mo Hill (Millstone Hill), Luoyan (Diving Wild Goose), Baima (White Horse), Chuidi (Playing Flutes), and Luohong Hills.
Among the six scenic areas, Tingtao and Mo Hill scenic areas are the two most notable and are open to visitors.
The East Lake gate opens to the Tingtao scenic area featuring the rare sequoia which is especially elegant in late autumn. The Listening-to-the-Waves Tower (Tingtao Xuan), with its classic elegance is one of the most famous buildings in this area along with Land of Water and Cloud (Shuiyun Xiang), which serves as a teahouse, and the Tingtao Inn of Wine, a restaurant offering local fish dishes. On the north, the center of this area, is the Poetry-Reciting Pavilion (Xingyinge), built for memorizing works of Qu Yuan, the great patriotic poet of the State of Chu (one of the seven warring states before Qin (221BC-206BC) in China's first feudal dynasty). Many exhibits about Qu Yuan are featured in this building including his great literary masterpieces. In addition, it holds the first allegory sculpture park in China, displaying wonderful sculptures and allegories.
Characterized by a beautiful landscape, abundant plants and the customs of the State of Chu and unique gardens, the Mo Hill Scenic Area attracts many tourists. In this area, the Chu cultural theme park displays the Chu culture in China. The Botanical Viewing Garden holds more than 360 kinds of plants in 13 special gardens with flowers blooming all the year round, including orchids and cherry blossoms in spring, lotus in summer, osmanthus in autumn, and plum blossoms in winter. Two of the most famous are the Cherry Blossom Garden, said to be one of the world's three cherry blossom capitals along with Hirosaki in Japan and Washington in America, and the Plum Blossom Garden which is listed as the top plum garden. For more details about Mo Hill, please click Mo Hill.
Other scenic areas include Luoyan (Diving Wild Goose), known for its serene environment, Baima (White Horse) with the white horse tombs, Chuidi (Playing Flutes), Zhu Zhen (the sixth son of Zhu Yuanzhang, the first emperor of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644)), and Luohong Hills, where the highly respected Wuhan University is situated.
Besides these, the Bird Forest with 200 kinds of birds, the mysterious East Lake Ocean Park, the biggest sand beach bathing area in inner China and the Friendship Forest, where many other cities' delegates along with Wuhan people have planted trees symbolizing friendship, are all worth a visit.
What make the East Lake Scenic Area more incredible is its recreational facilities: the exciting slide way, the ropeway, the yachts, tandem bikes, the skating rink and the pleasure ground for children.
As Wuhan has a subtropical monsoon climate with four distinct seasons, the ideal months to visit are from March to April and from September to October. Thus, you avoid the summer heat of July and August, which can reach 40 C (104 F), and the cold winter period from November to late January. The festival periods such as the Wuhan International Tourist Festival (Late September-Mid October), Plum Blossom Festival (February-March) are the highly recommended times to visit the East Lake Scenic Area. For detailed information about Wuhan climate, please click Wuhan Climate.
Source: TravelChinaGuide.com
Editor: Xu Xinlei
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