West Lake

Calque of Chinese 西湖 (literally “west lake”)

West Lake

1. A lake west of central Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China.
   • 1869, Helen S. C. Nevius, Our Life in China‎, New York: Robert Carter and Brothers, OCLC 1176111118, page 129:

     Marco Polo, the Venetian traveller, who visited China about the year 1200, speaks of it, as "pre-eminent above all other cities in the world, in point of grandeur and beauty, as well as from its abundant delights, which might lead an inhabitant to imagine himself in paradise;" and in another place describing Si-wu or West Lake, an artificial sheet of water just without the city wall, he says: "All around the lake are beautiful palaces and houses, so wonderfully built that nothing can possibly surpass them; they belong to the great and noble men of the city. In the middle of the lake are two islands, on one of which stands a palace so wonderfully adorned that it seems worthy of belonging to the emperor."

   • 2002 February 21, “U.S. President Bush to Start China Visit”, in People's Daily‎, archived from the original on August 16, 2021:

     On February 26, accompanied by Zhou, Nixon and his wife left Beijing for Hangzhou, capital of east China's Zhejiang Province, where they toured the picturesque West Lake.

   • 2021 August 22, “Top official in eastern China’s Hangzhou under investigation”, in AP News‎, archived from the original on 22 August 2021:

     A former imperial capital famed for its West Lake and surrounding temples, Hangzhou has lately grown famous as the hometown of internet commerce giant Alibaba.

   • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:West Lake.

• (from Mandarin Chinese) Xi Hu, Hsi Hu

• last week, wakelets