Mochou Lake Scenic Area, located to the west of Nanjing city outside the Shuixi Gate, is a classical garden in Jiangnan and a historical site of the Six Dynasties. The scenic area boasts a variety of begonia species, including paste begonia, papaya begonia, Xifu begonia, and weeping begonia, which bloom from March to April each year. In the height of summer, tens of thousands of lotus flowers compete for beauty on the lake surface.
The name Mochou Lake originated from its ancient name Hengtang, and it is also known as Stone City Lake due to its proximity to the Stone City. Legend has it that Mochou was a beautiful girl from Luoyang during the Southern Qi Dynasty, who sold herself into slavery to bury her father, married into Jinling, and committed suicide due to the intolerance of her in-laws. The lake was named after her. The Shengqi Building in Shengqi Building Park was first built in the early years of the Hongwu period of the Ming Dynasty and was rebuilt in the tenth year of the Tongzhi period (1871). It is said that this was the place where Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang of the Ming Dynasty played chess with the general Xu Da. Xu Da secretly arranged the pieces to spell ‘Long Live the Emperor,’ won the game but claimed a draw, which impressed Zhu Yuanzhang so much that he gifted Mochou Lake to Xu Da, and the building was named ‘Shengqi Building.’ To the west of Shengqi Building is Yujintang, the former residence of Mochou, inscribed with ‘Yujintang’ by Liu Haisu. In the front hall, there hangs a landscape painting titled ‘The Number One Scenic Spot in Jinling’ by Chen Dayu, and in the middle of the back hall is the living room with a round table where a statue of Mochou is seated embroidering. To the left is her bedroom. The hall is furnished with late Qing Dynasty redwood furniture, exuding an antique charm. On May 5, 2012, Mochou’s former residence was designated as a municipal cultural heritage site. To the west of Yujintang are the north and south halls, with a surrounding corridor that encloses the lotus-viewing pavilion in the east and west, and in the middle is a lotus pond with a more than 2-meter-high white marble statue of Mochou. She is depicted with a mulberry basket in hand and a long skirt trailing on the ground, resembling a graceful fairy, and her eyes seem to tell her misfortune to visitors from all directions. Opening hours are from May 1st to September 30th, 06:00-21:00; from October 1st to April 30th, 07:00-21:00. After the Lotus Viewing Pavilion, there is a boat dock where visitors can rent paddle boats, pedal boats, and electric boats, and now there are also speedboats for visitors to take a tour around the lake. There is a small island in the center of the lake, often inhabited by waterfowl, which can be reached by boat.Mochou Lake Scenic Area
Mochou Lake Scenic Area, located to the west of Nanjing city outside the Shuixi Gate, is a classical[...]
