Jinan Daming Lake Park, China

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Daming Lake Park

Situated in northern place of the old Jinan city, the Daming Lake Park is the most famous scenic spot in Jinan. Covering an area of 46.5 hectares, its area is quite big and almost occupies one third of the old city.

Speaking the Daming Lake Park, people will immediately remember that huge works "Travel Notes of Laochan" written by the scholar in Qing Dynasty named Liu E, in this works there are many verses praising the Daming Lake - "four sides lotus with three willows, one city with half lake landscapes".

The beautiful landscapes of pavilions and buildings in willows and shades, lotus full of ponds in the Daming Lake form and create a poetry feeling and painting realm naturally.

The Daming Lake is collected with many fountains such as the pearl fountain and the cottonrose fountain, the lake water pours into the Bohai Sea from the Little Clear River. The landscapes of four seasons are all different, in autumn the scenery is the most beautiful.

There are a lot of scenic spots in the park and some are very famous and the most special one is the "Lixia Pavilion" which was built on the biggest island among the ten pavilions in the park. The North Pole Pavilion is also called "the North Pole Temple" and it is a Taoism Temple, built in Yuan Dynasty and rebuilt in Ming Dynasty. It is a group of grand constructions built on the high platform on the north bank of the Daming Lake.

In addition, the Tiegong Ancestral Temple was built in order to commemorate the minister named Tiexuan in Ming Dynasty. Xiexuan opposed Zhuli (the emperor in Yongle Year) went to the south to fight for throne, at last he was killed by Zhuli.

From ancient times the Daming Lake is the collection place of humanity and cultures in Jinan. You can see the creation marks left by succeeding scholars, emperors and noblemen everywhere that are reflected with the beautiful scenery of the Daming Lake, you will feel that when traveling the Daming Lake, you will enjoy yourself so much that you forget to go home.

The Daming Lake

The pavilions and buildings of the Daming Lake are mainly: one pavilion (the North Pole Pavilion), two gardens (Xian Garden and Autumn Willow Garden), four ancestral Temples (Jiaxuan Ancestral Temple, Tiegong Ancestral Temple, Nanfeng Ancestral Temple and Huiquan Ancestral Temple) and ten pavilions (Yuhan Pavilion, Mandarin Duck Pavilion, Little Canglang Pavilion, Bajiao Pavilion, Jiuqu Pavilion, Wanghu Pavilion, Haoran Pavilion, Huxin Pavilion, Lixia Pavilion and Yuexia Pavilion).

The Lixia Pavilion

Built in North Wei period, the Lixia Pavilion is in the center of the Daming Lake. The Lixia Pavilion we can see today was rebuilt in 1716 and it is a construction with two layers and flying eight angles. The carved beams and painted rafters, red walls and green tiles form a beautiful landscape on the island.

The poet in Tang Dynasty --- Dufu once came to Jinan twice and once drank wine and created poetry with the calligrapher named Liyong in the Lixia Pavilion, talked about the social conditions and common events and left the verse: "ancient pavilion at right sea, more famous scholars in Jinan". On the middle beam of the pavilion there hung a horizontal inscribed board written three characters " the Lixia Pavilion" by Qianlong Emperor in Qing Dynasty personally.