Individualization and reciprocity in rendering
human and human-nature relationships in the experience of travel continued,
but the mid-sixteenth century saw the emergence of two additional
approaches to landscape. One is structuring the landscape, and the
other is positioning natural and human objects in the structure. It
is true that after the mid-seventeenth century there were still writers
describing their travel experiences in terms of individualized and
reciprocal human-human and human-nature relationships. However, the
emphases on individualization and reciprocity gradually gave way to
the new approaches. People began to make conscious efforts to delineate
the physical structure of a place, and to locate a scene at a certain
position in the structure. Within the structured and scene-positioned
landscape, they recognized events in the past and located them in
space or time. Both space and time are considered to have fixed boundaries.
Giving structure to the geographical space of West Lake is not an
entirely new phenomenon. It can be traced back to as early as thirteenth
century in Zhou Mi's 周密 Old Affairs of Wulin. In the fifth scroll
of the book, "Scheme of the Charms of the Lake and Mountains"
湖山勝概, Zhou described the appearance of the West Lake landscape using
eleven elements: five lines of mountains, two dikes, one valley, two
peaks, and one cluster of hills. Compared with Convenient Guidebook
of the Lake and Mountains 湖山便覽 by Zhai Hao 翟灝, published in 1765,
and one of the most famous works of this kind, at least two differences
can be detected. First, Zhai's book outlined an ordered structure
with eleven main lines of mountains, various areas under each line,
and individual scenes under each area. All the main lines are defined
by mountains. There is no mix of features. Secondly, for each line
and each area, Zhai briefly delineated its boundaries or listed its
contents, while Zhou left four of his eleven categories blank. Zhai
seemed obliged to frame the entire West Lake area into a discernable
structure-outline thus became an essential element
The appearance of another noted work of 1547 by Tian Rucheng 田汝成,
Visiting and Seeing West Lake: A Gazetteer西湖遊覽志, indicated the beginning
of the two new approaches. Tian's work shared a commitment to structuring
landscape with Zhai's Convenient Guidebook. Like Zhai, Tian also uses
lines of mountains to give structure to the landscape, and does not
mix kinds of features. Nevertheless, a clear difference exists between
them. It is a difference in how the mountains are perceived. Different
perceptions result in different forms, contents, and boundaries of
the landscape. In Tian's book, the first ten scrolls are dedicated
to the main lines of mountains. The following nine scrolls address
branches of mountains that extend inside the Hangzhou city walls.
These branches seem never to stop extending, because the book includes
almost all the districts 坊 of the city. The structure of landscape
depicted by Tian consists of mountains, branches of mountains, and
tacit branches of mountains, which are not physically visible. As
a result, the whole landscape includes both the lake surrounded by
mountains, and the city explicitly embraced and implicitly penetrated
by mountains.
In Zhai's Convenient Guidebook, on the other hand, with a single
exception, all the lines of mountains are carefully kept away from
the city. Their farthest eastern extent ends at the city gates. Zhai
unambiguously emphasized this point by repeatedly using the word "outside"
外 to show their relationship to the city. As for the line that extended
into the city, Zhai clearly stopped it at exactly where the furthest
extent of the physical feature ends. Nothing about any part of the
city is mentioned unless it is located on the surface of the mountains.
Parts that do not belong to the mountains are unreservedly excluded
from the landscape. Hence, to Zhai the mountains not only constitute
the structure of the landscape of West Lake, but also define its boundaries
at the same time. [table of contents of Tian's book]
The difference between Tian's and Zhai's books was, in fact, pointed
out in the preface to Zhang Dai's Seeking West Lake in Dreams, published
in 1671. The writer of the preface, Wang Yuqian 王雨謙, endorsed Zhang's
structuring, which is effectively the same as Zhai's. (1569) Another
book, Hand-Drawn Mirror Images of West Lake 西湖手鏡 by Ji Ying 季 嬰 first
published in 1636 and revised in 1644, suggested transition from Tian's
to Zhai's structuring. Ji reached a compromise that put Hangzhou City
and West Lake into separate parts of the book, with greater emphasis
on the lake. The lake itself is framed in the surrounding mountains
consisting of four lines. In any case, the mode of structuring the
landscape used in Zhai's book seemed eventually to be generally accepted
if gazetteers are used as evidence. Collections of West Lake Gazetteers
西湖志類纂 compiled by Shen Deqian 沈德潛 and published in 1751 is a good
example. This change is important in at least two ways. First, West
Lake gradually became an area independent of Hangzhou City in that
the lake itself could be the focus of attention without reference
to the city. Second, as the structure of the West Lake landscape became
a problem requiring writers' attention, it was also being conventionalized
at the expense of individualization of travel experience.
The conventionalizing of the perception of the West Lake landscape
is manifested in constant efforts to position natural and human features
in the structure. Natural features include peaks, valleys, brooks,
etc. Human features are temples, dikes, ports, etc. From Tian's book
onward, the most prevalent way to position features is to show their
locations in relation to the relevant line of mountains, and to other
objects nearby. Usually, the relationship between features is shown
by direction and distance. For example, in Tian's book, the description
of "Terrace of Watching Pine Trees" reads, "It is located
hundred steps left of the temple [Chiongshou changsi 崇壽禪寺] ."
(87) Another, from Ji's book, says "Fahau Hill 法華山 (Fahuashan)
is north of the temple [Lingfeng changsi 靈峰禪寺, which is "behind
Yuquan Pond" 玉泉池 Yuquanchi], and is about one li [one half kilometer]
away from Lingyin Mountain 靈隱山 (Lingyinshan). Ten li [five kilometers]
north of it [Fahua Hill] is Qin Pavilion 秦亭(Qinting) of West Brook
西溪 (Xixi). It [West Brook] is a branch of Fahua Hill." (13) A
simple example from Zhai's book says, "Shrine of King Dragon
龍王祠 (Longwangci) is located between the well [Dragon Well 龍井 Longjing]
and Cuifeng Pavilion 翠峰閣 (Cuifengge)." (237) By positioning natural
and human objects in this way, clear routes are sketched. They are
the routes to follow rather than exhibitions of personal taste.
Moreover, by positioning objects at fixed points, both the vantage
point to view a scene and the layout of an object become unmistakable.
This implied effect can be explicitly illustrated in the paintings
of this time. [three series of paintings] For example, the painting
of "Evening Tolling at South Hill" 南屏晚鐘 of 1735 places the
South Hill in the background and shows the arrangement of the temple
enclosure-Jingci Temple 淨慈寺. To make sure the viewer is not confused
names are written next to the corresponding features. Consequently,
the painting provides a structure of the landscape and the interrelationships
between all the precisely positioned and clearly designated features.
(Li, 77) In the Convenient Guidebook, similar strategies are adopted.
The painting of "Watching fish at Flower Port" 花港觀魚 marks
the boundaries of the scene using four places with their names beside
them. The names also serve to locate the Flower Port. A careful look
shows two bridges at the left named Suolan 鎖瀾and Yingbo 映波, that are
part of the Dike of Su Shi. These two lead, from north and south respectively,
to a third bridge called Dingxiang 定香 which allows entry to the Flower
Port. A fourth bridge, named Liujin 流金, leads to the port from the
east. Finally two people on a sampan indicate that the site can be
approached by water, the last point of access. It is true that there
are three possible points of entry, but the viewers of this painting
are informed of these three possibilities as the only entries to the
spot. (Zhai, woodblock, 119) This representation seems more about
factual arrangement than about personal experience-which is, as discussed
in preceding section, what the other strand of painting tradition
emphasizes. In both paintings, the best viewpoint to experience the
scene is suggested. In the first, the pavilion sheltering the Imperial
calligraphy (yushuting, 御書亭) indicates the best spot to hear the tolling
bell. In the other, the best spot lies at the center where the Flower
Port is located.
The conventionalizing of the experience of West Lake is not confined
to spatial relationships. Emphasis on historical events around the
lake through time with fixed "boundaries" also helps to
conventionalize the visitor's experience. From Tian's Visiting and
Seeing West Lake: A Gazetteer onward, almost all the books strenuously
collected records of events that had taken place around a certain
spot. Events include the establishment, restoration, rebuilding, and
destruction of a building, as well as the cultural creations inspired
by a scene or an object. Records of these events are displayed with
clear temporal attributes. There are two ways to mark the time of
activity. Most direct is simply to state the year, month, or even
the day of its occurrence. Lacking a date, a poem or literary creation
will be attributed to a poet on the basis of internal evidence and
style. An author or compiler would make efforts to examine the accuracy
of the time or the identity of the poet, if there are any uncertainties.
As a result, activities are fixed at a specific time. It follows that
the duration of the existence of objects that embodied or inspired
human activity became unequivocally clear. What, then, would be the
experience of a reader of these books who came to visit a scene? Put
simply, he or she would experience the scene from a particular viewpoint,
informed by layered memories with boundaries in both space and time.
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Experiencing the West Lake
