There is a round moon in the sky and three shadows in the lake
Origin: According to legend, it was a "masterpiece" written by the great poet Su Dongpo of the Song Dynasty when he was a local official in Hangzhou. At that time, he mobilized the people to dig deeper into the West Lake so that it could store more water to fight drought and irrigate the fields. The mud dug out of the lake was piled up into a long embankment and a small island. Later, people erected three stone towers at the deepest part of the lake as deep water marks. These are now the Su Causeway and Three Pools Reflecting the Moon.
Su Shi: Su Shi (1037-1101), a writer, calligrapher, painter, and gourmet in the Northern Song Dynasty. His courtesy name is Zizhan and his nickname is Dongpo Jushi. Han nationality, Sichuan native, buried in Yingchang (now Jiaxian County, Pingdingshan City, Henan Province). His official career was bumpy throughout his life, but he was knowledgeable, extremely talented, and excellent in poetry, calligraphy, and painting. His writing is unbridled, clear and fluent. Together with Ouyang Xiu, he is called Ou Su, and he is one of the "Eight Great Masters of the Tang and Song Dynasties". His poetry is fresh and vigorous, good at using exaggeration and metaphor, and his artistic expression is unique. He is also called Su Huang together with Huang Tingjian. He started a bold and unrestrained school and had a huge influence on later generations. Together with Xin Qiji, he was called Su Xin. He was good at calligraphy in running script and regular script. He was able to create his own ideas. His pen was rich and ups and downs, and he had an innocent taste. He was called Song Dynasty together with Huang Tingjian, Mi Fu and Cai Xiang. The four schools have the same painting studies and literature, advocate spiritual similarity in painting, and advocate "scholar painting". He is the author of "The Complete Works of Su Dongpo" and "Su Dongpo Yuefu".
Building Su Causeway:
In the fourth year of Yuanyou (1089), Su Shi was appointed as the bachelor of Longtuge and learned about Hangzhou. Since the West Lake has not been dredged for a long time, more than half of it has been silted up. "The flat lake in Kuangtai has been overgrown for a long time, and the people are still withering after years of prosperity." The lake gradually dried up and the lake was covered with weeds, which seriously affected agricultural production. The second year after he came to Hangzhou, Su Shi led a crowd to dredge the West Lake, mobilized more than 200,000 migrant workers, fired Fengtian, restored the old view, and built three pagodas (today's Three Pools Reflecting the Moon) in the deepest part of the lake as a symbol. He gathered the excavated silt and built a long embankment across the West Lake. The embankment was connected by six bridges for the convenience of pedestrians. Later generations named it "Sugong Embankment", or "Su Embankment" for short. In the early morning of spring, Su Causeway is surrounded by smoked willow cages, shimmering tree shadows, and birds singing. It is one of the famous ten sceneries of the West Lake, "Spring Dawn on Su Causeway."
“Su embankments are built everywhere on the east slope.” Su Shi built three long embankments in his life. When Su Shi was demoted to Yingzhou (now Fuyang, Anhui), Yingzhou West Lake was also dredged and embankments built. In the first year of Shaosheng (1094), Su Shi was demoted to deputy envoy of the Yuanning Army and settled in Huizhou (now Huiyang, Guangdong). Su Shi, who was nearly 60 years old, traveled all the way day and night to the demolition office and was warmly welcomed by the people of Lingnan. Su Shi took out the gold rewarded by the emperor and donated it to dredge the West Lake and build a long embankment. For this reason, "the elders gathered together, and they had no time to carry pots and pots. They drank for three days and killed all the chickens in the west of the village." People celebrated endlessly. Today, this Sudi is at the entrance of Huizhou West Lake, like a green belt, crossing the center of the lake, dividing the lake into two, with Pinghu on the right and Fenghu on the left.