Bai Juyi 白居易 (772-846)
Appointed to be the Hangzhou prefect in 822. Dredging the lake, repairing the six wells, and establishing a dike to administer the irrigation water were his major contributions to West Lake and Hangzhou. He set a fund for the purpose of regularly dredging the lake, and a rule for succeeding officials that demanded them to donate their salaries to the fund every time after the dredging in order to keep the amount of the fund remain the same. This policy lasted for more than fifty years after he left. He wrote many poems and accounts taking West Lake as their subject. (West Lake Gazetteer, 562) [link]

Ding Bing 丁丙 (1832-1899)
Hangzhou native and a bibliophile with collections of books for more than 200 thousands of scrolls. He saved Wenlan Pavilion Siku Chuanshu (a comprehensive collections of books of four categories, compiled under imperial supervision) from the Taiping uprising. His cultural contributions to West Lake were closely related to his personal hobbit of collecting books. Among others, Collection of Anecdotes of Wulin is considered the most important resources for the understanding of the history of Hangzhou and West Lake for it collects books ranging from water control to literary creations, and covering the period from the tenth to nineteenth century. (West Lake Gazetteer, 612)

Emperor Kangxi 康熙皇帝 (1654-1722; regime, 1662-1722)
Second emperor of the Qing dynasty. One of his major tasks was to establish legitimacy the dynasty in the Han people, especially literati, in every possible way. His trips to the south-six times with five of them to Hangzhou-were part of the persuasion process. Renaming some of the ten scenes and locating a central spot to view the scene with his calligraphy were the two strategies he adopted to achieve his goal. [link to the discussions] (West Lake Gazetteer, 601)

Emperor Qianlong 乾隆皇帝 (1711-1799; regime, 1736-1795)
Fourth emperor of the Qing dynasty. Six times he visited Hangzhou. Recognizing some scenes as outstanding, making new scenes, and writing poems conferred to each scene, all above were his cultural activities during the visits through which his power and taste were well demonstrated. [link to the discussions] (West Lake Gazetteer, 605-606)

Gao Panlong 高攀龍 (1562-1626)
A famous scholar in the late Ming dynasty for his critical attitude toward Wei Zhongxian魏忠賢, an eunuch in power at the time, and for his founding Donglin Academy with Gu Xiancheng 顧憲成. Preceding and motivating the establishments of other similar academies, Donglin Academy became one of the centers voicing political dissenting opinions until Gao's death in 1626..

Li Mi 李泌 (722-789)
Appointed to be the Hangzhou prefect twice, first in 781 and second in 784. In his second jurisdiction, he ordered to dig six wells in the hope of solving the residents' drinking water problem. One of the six wells is existent, Xiangguo Well 相國井, located to the west of Jingting Bridge 井亭橋 in today's Hangzhou city. (West Lake Gazetteer, 561)

Li Wei 李衛 (1686-1738)
General Commander of Zhejiang for about ten years. As a capable and responsible official, Li Wei regulated the use of West Lake, restored many buildings around the lake, and redesigned some spots and areas. A series of eighteen scenes of West Lake were created as a result of his administration accomplishments. [link to discussions] (West Lake Gazetteer, 603-604)

Lin Bu 林逋 (960-1028)
A hermit, not married and not served in government in his life, resided in Isolated Hill. He was famous for his virtue, poetry, and calligraphy. [link, poetry] His residence and tomb were constantly repaired. In order to match the depictions of him, "living with plum wife and crane son," people even build up a pavilion named "releasing cranes" later in the Isolated Hill area. (West Lake Gazetteer, 567-568)

Nie Xintang 聶心湯 (late sixteenth century to early seventeenth century)
A magistrate of Qiantang county. In order to protect the county from floods, he erected dams and dredged the lake. His another contribution was to supervise the compilation of a Qiantang gazetteer. (West Lake Gazetteer, 593-584)

Qian Liu 錢鏐
As a commander of Hangzhou prefect, he mobilized several hundreds of people and soldiers to build up Hangzhou city walls in 893. He was twice nominated by the Tang dynasty as a prince supervising a greater area around Hangzhou. After the fall of the Tang, he became an independent prince of Wuyue principality in 922. Qian organized a group of people in charge of the condition of the lake. Many monasteries and pagodas were constructed during his and his descendents' regimes. (West Lake Gazetteer, 565-566)

Ruan Yuan 阮元 (1764-1849)
Based in Hangzhou for twelve years as a high-ranking official, Ruan Yuan advanced his scholarship and fame through his friendship with schooled literati from Hangzhou and other localities. He added an isle to the landscape of the lake after dredging the lake in 1809. It is called the Isle of Ruan Yuan later on. (West Lake Gazetteer, 608-609)

Shen Gou 沈遘 (1056-1063)
Renown prefect of Hangzhou. One of his contributions to Hangzhou in relation to West Lake is to cannel the lake water into the city for people's drinking and daily use. The reservoir is called the Well of Shen Guo. (West Lake Gazetteer, 571)

Su Shi 蘇軾 (1037-1101)
Appointed to be the Hangzhou prefect twice, first in 1071 and second in 1089. He wrote a lot of poems about West Lake. [link, his pomes] His grand plan, enforced during his second jurisdiction, of regulating the use of the lake set an example for later officials not only of his own but also of ensuing dynasties. [link, his plan] (West Lake Gazetteer, 572-573)

Tian Rucheng 田汝成 (ca. 1503-1557)
Hangzhou native. After leaving his public service, he returned to his hometown and went to travel around for years. His Visiting and Seeing West Lake: A Gazetteer is an outcome of his study and personal experiences of West Lake. This book was well read by literati, and to some extent initiated a new genre to write about the lake. (West Lake Gazetteer, 590)

Wang Shixing 王士性 (1547-1598)
An official with successful career as well as a topographer with at least five books on Chinese topography. He relied on his personal experiences rather than on existing textual records to produce his works. It is sure that there are pieces more than just topographical descriptions. The accounts on Hangzhou and West Lake are good examples. They entered into his books by means of travel as well as topographical interests.

Wang Ruqian 汪汝謙

Yang Mengying 楊孟瑛 (late fifteenth century to early sixteenth century)
A Hangzhou prefect from 1503-1508. His grand plan of regulating the use of West Lake was called one of the three major achievements of its administration in the history. With the lake residues, he built up a dike in the inner lake parallel to the dike of Su Shi. [his grand plan] Unfortunately, he was scandalized by the families of vested interest, and eventually demoted to a position in other prefecture. (West Lake Gazetteer, 589)

Yu Qian 于謙 (1398-1457)
Hangzhou native. Yu was a royal official of the Ming dynasty who insisted on fighting with the Wala in 1449, though it might risk a Ming emperor's life who had been captured at a previous battle. He defeated the Wala, and eventually made them to return the captured emperor in 1450. However, he was then sentenced to death by the emperor for his "planning to rebel" in 1457. He was buried around West Lake. In 1466 his fame was returned by succeeding emperor, a shrine was established for him in 1489 in the command of another emperor, and then in 1590 his posthumous honor was officially promoted by the emperor at the time. His name is thus integrated into the memory of West Lake and Hangzhou. (West Lake Gazetteer, 586-587)

Yuan Hongdao 袁宏道 (1568-1610)
One of the famous writers in the late Ming dynasty. With his brothers, he developed a new literary theory called the Kongan School公安派-also known as the Xingling school 性靈派 ("School of Innate Sensibility"). The ideal of his theory emphasized the "importance of individuality and the genuineness of emotion" in content and the "freedom of style" in form. (Chih-p'ing Chou, 44)

Yue Fei 岳飛 (1103-1142)
A General of the Southern Song. He is remembered as an unswerving hero against the Jurchen threats, and for his tragic death sentence as a gesture made by the Southern Song in the hope of keeping peace with the Jurchens. His tomb is one of the most visited spot, located at the foot of Qixia Hill. [pointing to the map] (West Lake Gazetteer, 575)

Zhang Dai 張岱 (1597- ca.1679)
Zhang lived through the dynastic change from the Ming to the Qing. He did not bother to be part of either government. Most of his life were dedicated to cultural activities. He resided in West Lake area for forty years. On this basis of experiences, he attained a wide range of knowledge regarding the lake. Seeking West Lake in Dreams is the demonstration. The structure of this book shows that it was written in a tradition starting with Tian Rucheng's Visiting and Seeing West Lake: A Gazetteer. Despite some differences, both have clear structuring and positioning systems when viewing the lake. [link to the discussions] (West Lake Gazetteer, 594-595)

Zhou Mi 周密 (1232-1298)
An official of Lin'an prefecture during 1253-1258, living near Qiantang Gate. His main contributions to West Lake are to preserve memories of it and Hangzhou through his writing, especially Old Affairs of Wulin and Scheme of the Charms of the Lake and Mountains, the Scheme was included in the Old Affairs in later edition as a chapter. (West Lake Gazetteer, 580)

Zhu Mu 祝穆 (?- 1256)
The author of Appreciation of Territorial Splendors 方輿勝覽. His father is Zhu Xi's 朱熹 cousin, so he studied in Zhu Xi's academy in his youth. He spent much of his life traveling throughout Zhejiang and several other providences along Yangzi River. The Appreciation well represents his efforts of collecting information of the places he visited.