Bridge at One End of West Lake 西湖
I’ve said it before, Hangzhou is one of the more relaxing cities in China. Most cities in China tend to outdo each other in terms of technology. Sparkling buildings are relatively commonplace now, but a lot of them just tend to blight the landscape. Although Hangzhou also has its share of glittering buildings, these are mostly confined in areas beyond the West Lake area. As a result, Hangzhou is a refreshing place to be in. The West Lake provides a large open space that also happens to be free.
Dancing in a Pavillion in the West Lake 西湖 Area in Hangzhou 杭州
A few cities in China can still lay claim to the title of relaxing city, Chengdu is another one of those cities. I was on the way out of the West Lake area when I chanced upon this little pavillion on the shores of the West Lake. There seemed to be an unusually large number of people in this pavillion and I dropped by for a closer look. I was amused to see that most of the people in the pavillion were elderly folk, but nothing prepared me for what they were doing. They were dancing. I was always thought that this type of dancing is more of a Western style however, these people were gamely dancing away. I remember seeing this in Chengdu’s People’s Park. It is quite refreshing to see these kinds of activities still being done in the information age.
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