North Lake

Xuanwu Lake

synonym

North Lake (North Lake, Xuanwu District, Nanjing) generally refers to Xuanwu Lake

Xuanwu Lake is located in Xuanwu District of Nanjing City, with Zijin Mountain in the East, Ming City Wall in the west, Nanjing railway station in the north and Fu Zhoushan in the south. It is the largest park in the south of the Yangtze River, the largest Royal Garden Lake in China, and the only royal garden in the south of the Yangtze River. It is known as "Jinling pearl", also known as Houhu and Beihu.

The cultural history of Xuanwu Lake can be traced back to the pre Qin period. In the Six Dynasties, Xuanwu Lake became a place for the emperor to visit the Navy, and was turned into a royal garden. In the south bank, there were Hualin garden, Leyou garden and other royal gardens. In the Northern Song Dynasty, Wang Anshi, Jiangning official, abandoned the lake and returned it to the field, which led to the loss of Xuanwu Lake for more than 200 years. In the Yuan Dynasty, Xuanwu Lake reappeared after twice dredging. In the Ming Dynasty, Xuanwu Lake was set as a lake Houhu huangceku is a royal forbidden area; Fengrun gate (now Xuanwu Gate) was opened in the late Qing Dynasty when Nanyang Business promotion meeting was held, and Xuanwu Lake became a tourist area; in August 1928, Xuanwu Lake was officially opened as a park.

Xuanwu Lake is diamond shaped, with a total area of 5.13 square kilometers and a lake surface area of 3.78 square kilometers. The lake is divided into three parts by five continents (Huanzhou, Yingzhou, Lingzhou, Liangzhou and Cuizhou). North Lake (northeast lake, Northwest Lake), Southeast lake and southwest lake are connected by dikes, bridges and roads. Xuanwu Lake is a shallow water lake. Its water source comes from the northern foot of Zijin Mountain. There are seven main ditches into the lake, which are connected with the moat, Jinchuan River and Zhenzhu river. It is responsible for the comprehensive functions of ecological landscape, citizens' leisure, tourism, urban flood control and drainage, and ecological water replenishment of urban rivers.

In February 2005, Xuanwu Lake was listed as a national AAAA scenic spot

In September 2008, Xuanwu Lake Park was listed as a national key park

In September 2016, Xuanwu Lake was listed as a national water conservancy scenic spot

In October 2019, Xuanwu Lake won the title of "top ten leisure lakes in China in 2019".

Historical evolution

The surrounding area of ancient Xuanwu Lake was the first place suitable for human settlement in Nanjing. As early as 6500-4000 years ago, Xuanwu Lake was connected with the life of Nanjing people.

In 210 B.C., it is said that the first emperor of Qin made his fifth return tour. When he arrived at Jinling, several accompanying Qi watchers saw that the mountains around Jinling were steep and beautiful, and the terrain was dangerous, so they said to the first emperor: Jinling has the spirit of emperor. The first emperor of Qin Dynasty was very displeased. He ordered people to dig Fangshan to make huaishui flow through Jinling and disperse Wang Qi. At that time, Jinling was changed into moling, and the lake was renamed moling lake.

At the end of Jian'an period in the Eastern Han Dynasty, Zhuge Liang, an envoy to Jiangdong, passed by Nanjing, and made a geomantic assessment that "Zhongshan is surrounded by dragons and rocks. This is the residence of Emperors". Xuanwu Lake was larger than it is now in the Six Dynasties, and it is directly connected with the Yangtze River. The lake can be used as a training ground for naval forces.

At the end of Han Dynasty, Jiang Ziwen, the commander of moling, was buried by the lake.

During the period of the Three Kingdoms, in order to avoid the name taboo of his grandfather Sun Zhong, Emperor Wu changed his name to "Jiangling Lake" and diverted water into the back lake of the palace. Because Xuanwu Lake is located in the north of yanque lake and Taichu palace, it is also called "back Lake" and "North Lake".

From the Eastern Jin Dynasty to the Southern Dynasties, Xuanwu Lake was named Kunming Lake, yinmatang lake, Lianhu lake, Xiwu lake and LianWu lake. Xuanwu Lake entered the first heyday in history.

During the Six Dynasties, Xuanwu Lake was the playground of feudal emperors. Because of the need of "four gods layout" in the imperial capital, and because of the "black dragon" appearing twice in the lake in the 25th year of Yuanjia (448), it is also called Xuanwu Lake. In the third year of song Daming, Shanglin garden was set up on the lake, and Leyou garden and Hualin garden were set up on the south bank. During the reign of Qi Daming, Emperor Wu often went hunting in the middle of the night, or went to Zhongshan or Mufu mountain, accompanied by tens of thousands of palace maids in strict attire. When he came back at dawn, he just heard a rooster crow. "Yuliucui in Xuanwu Lake, Jiming Daikou xiuruhui" originated from this. Up to now, there is a place name of Jiming Dai near the gate of Wu Temple.

In the early years of Yuanjia in Liu Song Dynasty, Emperor Wen of Song Dynasty dredged Xuanwu Lake on a large scale, and the dredged mud piled up together and became a small island out of the water. Among them, the largest are Penglai, abbot and Yingzhou, collectively known as Sanshen mountain, which is the predecessor of Liangzhou, Huanzhou and Yingzhou in Xuanwu Lake.

In Sui and Tang Dynasties, Nanjing was no longer the capital and Xuanwu Lake was neglected. When Yan Zhenqing, a great calligrapher, was appointed governor of Shengzhou, he once changed Xuanwu Lake into "free pool". Many famous poets, such as Li Bai, Du Mu, Wei Zhuang, Li Shangyin and so on, expressed great emotion in the face of the great changes in the status of Xuanwu Lake.

During the Southern Tang Dynasty, Xuanwu Lake was once revived, so that Feng MI, the Minister of the Southern Tang Dynasty, coveted the beautiful scenery of the lake and asked the emperor to give the lake to him as a private garden. Xu Xuan stopped the matter.

In 1075, Wang Anshi, the official of Jiangning, put forward the idea of "returning the abandoned lake to the farmland", which made sure that Shenzong of the Song Dynasty could release the lake and get the farmland. Therefore, Xuanwu Lake disappeared for more than 200 years, seriously affecting the drainage of Nanjing city.

Xuanwu Lake reappeared only after two dredging operations in the fifth year of Dade (1301) and the third year of Zhizheng (1343).

In 1369, Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang of the Ming Dynasty established the capital of Nanjing. After expanding the scope of Nanjing City, Xuanwu Lake became a moat outside the north-east wall of Nanjing city. The city wall was built to the South and West Bank of Xuanwu Lake, creating an insurmountable barrier between Xuanwu Lake and the main urban area, as well as between Luozhou mountain and Jilong mountain The visual landscape connected by water also blocked the connection between Xuanwu Lake and the Yangtze River, and further reduced the water surface of Xuanwu Lake, which was only one third of that in the Six Dynasties. At the same time, a Taiping gate was built at the junction of Zijin Mountain and Xuanwu Lake, and a "Taiping dike" (now the section of Longpan Road) was built outside Taiping gate. The Xuanwu Lake was separated into a "middle Lake" (now the "middle Lake" remains are still preserved in Baima Park), which completely divided the original continuous Zhongshan Xuanwu Lake area into two places The landscape pattern of this area for thousands of years.

In 1381, Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang selected Xuanwu Lake as the place where the central government of Ming Dynasty stored the general register of household registration, taxes and labor and the archives of farmland and mu. He built the huangce Library of Houhu Lake (equivalent to the central archives today) and banned the people from entering. Xuanwu Lake has been isolated from the outside world for more than 260 years.

In the Qing Dynasty, Xuanwu Lake was changed to Yuanwu lake to avoid the taboo of Emperor Kangxi Xuanye. Both Emperor Kangxi and Emperor Qianlong visited here and left poems. After the Tongzhi reign of the Qing Dynasty, there were some garden buildings in Yuanwu lake. Zeng Guofan, governor of the two rivers, rebuilt the lake temple in Liangzhou, and added Huxin Pavilion, Daxian tower, Guanyin Pavilion and lotus hall. Zuo Zongtang, the Minister of the late Qing Dynasty, also built a long dike connecting the lonely ridge and Liangzhou, which solved the inconvenience of "going out from the Taiping gate and making the boat go" when you visit Yuanwu lake.

After the 20th year of Daoguang in the Qing Dynasty (1840), with the eastward spread of the western wind, the modern "Park" opened to the public appeared in China, and the concept of public welfare "garden" came into China, which promoted the transformation of the closed and exclusive Royal Garden and private garden to the form of park.

In 1908, duanfang, then governor of Liangjiang and Minister of Nanyang trade, was ordered to hold the Nanyang trade association, which opened the lake to the outside world as a "Wuzhou Park". In order to facilitate visitors from home and abroad, duanfang decided to open a gate on the city wall near the meeting place. Before the completion of the project, duanfang was transferred away. Next year, he succeeded Zhang Renjun, the governor general. Because Zhang Renjun was born in Fengrun, Hebei Province, he was named "fengrunmen". The opening of fengrunmen (now Xuanwumen) is a turning point of Xuanwu Lake, which marks that Xuanwu Lake has officially become a park in modern history. Later, Cuihong dikes were built to connect the lake, and Xuanwu Lake became a famous tourist area in Nanjing.

At the beginning of the Republic of China, Xuanwu Lake followed the Qing Dynasty name "Yuanwu Lake Park" and established the corresponding management office. The main responsibility of Xuanwu Lake Management Office is to manage the greening of the park, and also manage the city's landscaping. The Lake property is leased by private owners, and the management office is only responsible for collecting rent. Every winter, the Charterers often fish out of their own interests, resulting in the increase of mud and reeds in Xuanwu Lake. The management office has repeatedly sent Lake police to dissuade and stop, which is of no help. In response to this, sun Shenming of the management office wrote to the provincial government, asking for a document to stop it.

On August 7, 1925, Zheng Qian, governor of Jiangsu Province, signed a notice, pointing out that " Xuanwu Lake is a famous scenic spot in Nanjing, with Zhongshan in the East and Shence in the West. Over the past few years, the lake has been silted up with reeds. It should return to the depth of the water when it was old, so as to preserve the beautiful scenery Since the date of the demonstration, the depth of the lake should always be kept at least seven feet. In winter, when fishing, water must be stored at four feet. There are still some cases, such as greedy for small profits and fishing with all efforts. Once verified, it should be raised, dealt with strictly, and never be lenient. " The notice signed by governor Zheng Qian has effectively curbed the above phenomenon and ensured the interests of the people and the development of aquaculture in Xuanwu Lake.

On April 18, 1927, the national government established Nanjing as its capital. On June 1, the Nanjing municipal government was established. In the same year, Xuanwu Lake established "Xuanwu Lake Management Bureau" to manage the landscaping in the lake and the whole city.

In May 1928, the national municipal government

Chinese PinYin : Bei Hu