The Legend of the West Lake

The origin of the West Lake, since ancient times there are many beautiful myths and legends, the story of the golden phoenix, Jade dragon and pearl is one of the most popular.

Legend has it that in ancient times, there lived a jade dragon in the stone kiln east of the Tianhe River, and there lived a golden phoenix in the forest west of the Tianhe River. They once found a raw jade on the fairy island of the Yinhe River, so they polished the raw jade together for many years, and finally made the raw jade into a bright pearl. Where the pearl shines, the trees will remain green and the flowers will bloom.

The news later reached the palace of Heaven, and the greedy Queen Mother sent heavenly soldiers to steal the pearl in order to get the jewel. The jade dragon and the golden phoenix found the pearl missing and looked for it everywhere. Later learned that in the hands of the Queen Mother, so rushed to Tiangong to ask the queen mother, the queen mother refused to die to protect the pearl, Jade dragon and Jinfeng went forward to grab, so you fight for me, you pull me pull, the pearl from Tiangong steps along the earth. In order not to let the pearl fall, the jade dragon and the golden phoenix also fly down with the pearl. Once this pearl landed, it immediately became the crystal green West Lake. Jade dragon and Jinfeng reluctant to leave their hard work into the pearl, become two mountains to protect it. The two mountains, one is the majestic Jade Dragon Mountain (today's Yuhuangshan), the other is the verdant Jinfeng Mountain (today's Fenghuang Mountain).

From then on, they always guard the West Lake. The people of Hangzhou still recite the ballad of "West Lake pearl descending from heaven, dragon flying and phoenix dancing to Qiantang".