The best scenery that West Lake can offer in summer is miles and miles of lotus flowers in full blossom. With a boundless array of pink flowers set off by the green leaves swaying in the summer breeze, one can find themselves cool and happy in the sweltering summer weather. Since ancient times, for its quality of rising unstained from mud and its unrivaled beauty, lotus has been one of the favorites of literati, which can be seen in an abundance of literary works and paintings left behind, and finds itself one of China’s ten best-known flowers. Gradually, viewing lotus became a classy entertainment in hot summers for emperors, officials and literati, which today makes to the list of must-do things in Hangzhou.
Lotus is extensively grown in West Lake and Hangzhou offers plenty of places with a nice vantage point to view lotus flowers, including Three Pools Mirroring the Moon, Lakeside Park on the east bank, the west end of Bai Causeway, the Little South Lake, the Inner West Lake, the Xiling Bridge, etc. However, the ideal place is Quyuan Garden, whose Breeze-ruffled Lotus in Quyuan Garden is listed as one of the Top Ten Views of West Lake.
