Su Shi's governance of West Lake:
Su Dongpo's dredging of Hangzhou left "paradise beauty". In the fourth year of Xining (AD 1071), Su Dongpo was forced to leave the capital because he wrote a letter against Wang Anshi's reform. , went to Hangzhou to serve as general judge. This is the first West Lake he has visited in his life. When he was appointed as the general magistrate of Hangzhou, Su Dongpo wrote "Drunk Letter on the Lake Tower on June 27" describing the scenery of the West Lake: Black clouds rolled over the mountains without covering the mountains, and white raindrops jumped into the boats. The ground wind blows away suddenly, and the water below the lake tower is like the sky.
During his three years in Hangzhou, Su Dongpo traveled to various places of interest in his spare time from official duties, leaving behind many well-known poems. The two famous poems "Drinking on the Lake at First Sunny and Later Rain" were written at this time. It can be seen that West Lake left a deep impression on him. But when the three-year term was up, Su Dongpo had to leave Hangzhou; and the rule that he could not serve as an official again in the same place might leave Su Dongpo with endless thoughts and deep regrets about West Lake.
However, Su Dongpo was lucky, and so was West Lake. By some mistake, after 16 years of absence, Su Dongpo became the magistrate of Hangzhou as a bachelor of Longtuge in the fourth year of Yuanyou (1089 AD). This was a blessing for Su Dongpo; and it was an even better blessing for Hangzhou. When Su Dongpo came to Hangzhou again, he found that the West Lake he missed day and night was overgrown with grass, dried up, and muddy everywhere due to neglect of management. The glistening water was nowhere to be found, and the mountains were empty and empty.
Faced with the declining scene of West Lake, Su Dongpo lost his leisure and ease. He made up his mind to dredge the West Lake and restore its former beauty. So, he resolutely wrote to the court, requesting that the West Lake be dredged. However, if we really want to organize manpower to dredge the West Lake, we will face many difficulties. First of all, a large amount of money is needed to manage the West Lake. Where does the money come from? Although the imperial court approved the request to dredge the West Lake, it only provided 100 dudu (identity certificates for monks to become monks) as funding. Su Dongpo used these 100 ultimatums and sold them for 17,000 guan, plus the remaining 10,000 guan for famine relief, and used them to carry out a large-scale West Lake improvement project in the form of work-for-relief.
After the funding problem was solved, another bigger problem came: how to deal with the large amount of silt dredged? Even though Su Dongpo was just a scholar, he was actually a doer when it came to doing things. Through careful inspection of the West Lake and its surrounding environment, he cleverly turned waste into treasure - part of the silt transported from the bottom of the lake was used as farmland fertilizer, turning the original swamp into fertile farmland.
Then use these lands to recruit idle members of society and farmers from other places to farm, not only turning those nomads who usually sneak around into law-abiding and good citizens. Moreover, part of the harvest is used to pay taxes and can also be used as expenses for lake management. Another part of the silt was accumulated to build a long embankment connecting the north and south of the West Lake. Six bridges were built on the embankment and various flowers, plants and trees were planted.
In spring, when flowers bloom, peaches reflect the sun, and weeping willows blow against the embankments, the lake turns into living water. The West Lake adds to the beauty and makes pedestrian access even more convenient. This long embankment was named "Sugong Embankment" by Hangzhou people; the six bridges are the famous Su Embankment Six Bridges, which have become a beautiful scenery of the West Lake.
In this regard, Su Dongpo himself also had a poem: Six bridges span the Han Dynasty, and the Beishan Mountain begins to connect with the Nanshan Mountain. Suddenly, with a shock of 250,000 feet, Laofeng swept across the blue sky! As for the dredging of the West Lake, Su Dongpo also wrote the poem "Opening the West Lake" to record the project: Great men do not ask for more when planning, and things are decided by themselves. Even if the turtles and fish are released, it will still be green and pure, and it will allow Xiaowei to block the front slope. Who can continue the good things once done? A hundred feet of green cliff can still be polished. The stars in the sky are also happy, the moon is shining and bathing in golden waves.
With the West Lake under control, Su Dongpo’s term of office has also come to an end. With endless nostalgia, he reluctantly left Hangzhou and said goodbye to his beloved West Lake. Since then, I have never returned to Hangzhou, and I have no chance to visit the West Lake again. However, Hangzhou people will always remember him, and West Lake has also deeply impressed the immortal figure of this great writer.
Extended information
Su Shi (January 8, 1037 - August 24, 1101), also named Zizhan, also named Hezhong, also known as Tieguan Taoist and Dongpo layman , known as Su Dongpo and Su Xian in the world. Han nationality, a native of Meishan, Meizhou (now part of Meishan City, Sichuan Province), his ancestral home is Luancheng, Hebei Province, a writer, calligrapher and painter in the Northern Song Dynasty.
The number of times Su Dongpo visited West Lake:
1. In the fourth year of Xining, Su Shi was forced to leave the capital and went to Hangzhou to serve as a general judge because he opposed Wang Anshi's reform. During his tenure, Su Dongpo wrote "Drunk Letter on the Lake Tower on June 27" describing the scenery of the West Lake: Black clouds rolled over the mountains without covering the mountains, and white raindrops jumped into the boat. The ground wind blows away suddenly, and the water below the lake tower is like the sky.
2. In the fourth year of the Yuan Dynasty, Su Shi became the magistrate of Hangzhou as a bachelor of Longtuge. He found that the West Lake he missed day and night was overgrown with weeds, the lake dried up, and there was mud everywhere. The glistening water was nowhere to be found. The mountains are empty and misty, and they are no longer what they used to be. Facing the situation of decline, Su Dongpo lost his leisure and made up his mind to dredge the West Lake.
3. In the sixth year of Yuan Dynasty, Su Shi was released and served as the magistrate of Yingzhou. There is also a West Lake in the northwest of Yingzhou City, which is ten miles long and two miles wide. It has an excellent scene. Su Dongpo often feasted here and left many poems and poems about it. He once compared Yingzhou West Lake to Hangzhou West Lake, lamenting that "in the midst of thousands of rising and falling, I don't know who is male or female in Hangzhou or Yingzhou".
Reference materials: Su Dongpo visited several West Lakes in his life—Xinhuanet Su Shi—Baidu Encyclopedia