the West Lake is one of the most famed tourist attractions
in China. For centuries, the West Lake has been well known
both for its picturesque landscape and for cultural heritage
surviving yet illustrating the past dynasties.
The landscape area of the West Lake includes the surrounding
hills and nearby historical sites as well as the lake itself. The
lake area covers around 60 square kilometers consisting of
5.68 square kilometers of water area.
The West Lake is the centerpiece of the natural fascination
with bluish hills on three sides, serene and charming. Along
the Lake, there stand lines of willows with ancient bridges
leaping over them. Mist now veils the whole landscape, now
just perches lightly on the green and luxuriant hills in the
vicinity with tiny streams winding in deep valleys.
More than ninety theme parks and scenic spots are dotted
around the lake area such as the Ten Views of West Lake
and ten-odd newly named tourist attractions. Rain or shine,
the West Lake holds great attraction to tourists in all seasons.
Besides its impressive scenery, the West Lake boasts of
abundant cultural heritage and legends passed from generation
to generation, commingling natural features, past personages, history, and art in the local area.
Thanks to its long history and historic importance, the West
Lake is also a cultural resort with 5 major historical monuments and cultural relics under state protection, 35 under province protection, 25 under municipal protection as well as 39 theme museums and cultural spots under a protection system.
In the whole landscape area, there are more than one hundred scenic spots open to the tourists at present. Each year there
are 0.5 million of foreign guests and 12 million domestic visitors coming to Hangzhou.
The tourism management and related concerns are in the
charge of Hangzhou Municipal Bureau of Landscape and
Cultural Relics (MBLCR for short), which is the administrative
and authoritative department of the municipal government.
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