April 1998.
上有天堂，下有苏杭
[Literally: up there is Heaven, down here there are Suzhou and Hangzhou]
dreams
On my famous first trip to Shanghai via the slow boat from Japan, my friends and I made a detour to Hangzhou, famous for its lake and gardens. Foreigners like me have been commenting on Hangzhou for centuries:
Yuan China was very open to foreign visitors, and several returned west describing Hangzhou as one of the foremost cities in the world. The Venetian merchant Marco Polo supposedly visited Hangzhou in the late 13th century. In his book, he records that the city was "greater than any in the world" and that "the number and wealth of the merchants, and the amount of goods that passed through their hands, was so enormous that no man could form a just estimate thereof." The manuscripts of Polo's account greatly exaggerate the city's size, although it has been argued that the "hundred miles" of walls would be plausible if Chinese miles were intended instead of Italian ones and that the "12,000 stone bridges" might have been a copyist error born from the city's 12 gates. In the 14th century, the Moroccan traveler Ibn Battuta arrived; his later account concurred that al-Khansā was "the biggest city I have ever seen on the face of the earth." He visited Hangzhou in 1345 and noted its charm and described how the city sat on a beautiful lake and was surrounded by gentle green hills. He was particularly impressed by the large number of well-crafted and well-painted Chinese wooden ships with colored sails and silk awnings in the canals.
(Wikipedia)
China in 1986 was very impoverished, just starting to recover from the Cultural Revolution and the so-called "Great Leap Forward". Hangzhou was so revered that it had been spared the destruction visited on so many other historical places in China. West Lake and its causeways, gardens, and pavilions were indeed something out of a dream. MF and I woke up early one morning and walked to the lake and rented a rowboat (another guy did the rowing) and we drifted on the lake surrounded by the low hills in an early morning mist. We literally rowed into a painting one might find on a scroll hanging in a museum. As we marveled at the scenery seemingly floating on the lake around us, somewhere onshore loudspeakers started to play "These Dreams" by Heart. To this day every time I hear that song, I remember floating on West Lake as if in a dream. It is one of my single, strongest memories of the Middle Kingdom.
I insisted Brian visit Hangzhou when we finally made it China together years later. After a decade, I found myself in the city again and so much had changed. The beauty of West Lake was there, untouched, but a modern city had sprouted out of the previously low-rise, relaxed regional capital. The city appeared to be a dynamic place with new skyscrapers under construction everywhere. Everyone wanted a view of that lovely, heavenly lake. By that time, the Chinese had become tourists in their own country and Hangzhou was mobbed. When MF and I visited that first time with friends, we literally had West Lake to ourselves. 12 years later, Brian and I struggled to take photos that weren't filled with a crush of people.
Matsuo Bashō, the famous Japanese poet, failed to capture in poetry the view over Matsushima Bay, Japan renowned for its beauty - he could only find the words "Matsushima ya, Matsushima ya, Matsushima ya...." (Lit. "oh Matsushima" repeatedly). He actually said it could only be compared to .... West Lake, Hangzhou! I find myself experiencing the same - wanting to describe Hangzhou's beauty, but feeling daunted. What words to express this place of centuries old beauty - a splendor that had been cultivated, curated, and yet spared the ravages of war and revolution. Especially on that first visit, even if in the winter and in a mist, the place was awe-inspiringly gorgeous. China was a place that I knew nothing about at that time Clearly, I had grossly underestimated it for travel and it needed exploration.
While living in Japan I would return to China twice more - not an easy place to travel at that time, but the rewards were always worth the hassle. My realization that I had to see more of China was all due to a rowboat ride on West Lake in Hangzhou, "Heaven on Earth".