Stone Pagodas and the One Yuan Note
One of the most well known features of the West Lake is actually on the water itself. This place is actually somewhere near the Xiao Ying Zhou. Xiao Ying Zhou as you know is an artificial island made from dredging of sediment over the centuries. Over the years the island was built to what it is right now and there was three stone pagodas build on the water quite near the artificial island. Confusingly, the pagodas are called Three Ponds.
Boating On the West Lake 西湖
The pagodas are actually tiny compared to the Leifeng Pagoda, probably no more than two or three feet tall. These pagodas are lit up in the Mid Autumn Festival so that at night it looks like the moon when reflected on the water. I don’t really know how this can to be but this probably where the name of the Three Ponds Mirroring the Moon 三潭印月 came from. How I wish that I could get nearer to the pagoda since there were really tiny. Some boats can bring you near them and would probably make for a nice photograph. Incidentally, this scene is actually on the One Yuan note. This is the second time I have taken a photo with Chinese currency at the original location. The first one was at Xingping 兴平 in Yangshuo 阳朔. I missed an opportunity at Taishan when I visited the previous year though.
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