As the Start of Summer arrives, nature flourishes in abundance. At 7:49 PM today, the inaugural solar term of summer made its graceful entrance. In Hangzhou at this time, the sunlight is warm yet not harsh; all things shed the delicate freshness of spring and begin to grow with fervent exuberance. This edition of "Exploring Hangzhou with the 24 Solar Terms" invites you to Tongjian Lake in Shuangpu, Hangzhou, to experience the first vibrant surge of life in early summer, characterized by lush flowers, brimming waters, and plentiful produce.
Under a sky where blue heavens and white clouds seem almost within reach, and stepping on lush green grass dotted with colorful wildflowers, ascending the steps feels like walking into a vast grassland straight out of a comic book. This stunning view in Hangzhou for the Start of Summer has exploded across social media feeds and can no longer be kept a secret. The spot that captures the ceremonial essence of Hangzhou's "Altay" is located within the free flower field at Tongjian Lake in the city's main urban area. The scenic area has poetically named this spot "Flower Cloud Steps."
Coinciding with the May Day holiday, the Start of Summer saw the scenic area welcome over 100,000 visitors in just the first three days of the holiday period. The Flower Cloud Steps became the most popular photo spot. This free flower field spans more than 70,000 square meters, making it the largest of its kind in Hangzhou's main urban area.
Visitors from the city center can take Metro Line 6 to Kehai Road Station, exit from Gate A, transfer to bus 539, and alight at Renqiao Station after three stops (approximately 5 minutes) to reach Tongjian Lake. Those driving can navigate directly to the "Tongjian Lake Flower Sea Parking Lot."
The flower field at Tongjian Lake in Shuangpu is in its fifth year and consistently attracts large numbers of tourists from across the country to visit and admire the blooms. Upon entering Tongjian Lake, one is immersed in a sea of flowers. In the core area, vast expanses of flowers bloom profusely together, presenting a colorful spectacle from a distance and varying heights up close. Visitors can wander along paths through the flowers for close-up viewing and photography, while still maintaining a safe distance from the delicate blooms.
According to staff at the scenic area, this year's flower field covers over 70,000 square meters. Leveraging bloom periods and site characteristics, it scientifically combines dozens of flower varieties through a layered layout featuring tall focal flowers, mid-layer primary scenery flowers, and ground-cover accent flowers. The main flower varieties include delphinium, foxglove, corn cockle, cosmos, beautiful evening primrose, and hydrangeas. The design also considers color coordination and visitor flow paths to create an immersive floral landscape rich in layers and clear themes.
The Flower Cloud Steps site, located towards the south of the flower field, became a popular internet-famous spot last year. After upgrades and renovations, it was relaunched just before the May Day holiday. The area exemplifies responsiveness to visitor feedback.
The flower slope was raised by 1.5 meters, instantly transforming it into the hottest photo location. Flower Cloud Steps is a small floral slope nestled deep within the Tongjian Lake flower field, gently surrounded by cosmos, delphinium, and California poppy. From a distance, it appears as a small hill covered in velvety turf, supporting steps as light as white clouds. White stone steps spiral upwards to a small flat grassy area at the summit, which can accommodate about twenty people simultaneously. Most remarkably, a tree stands at each end of the summit—one tall and straight like a youth, the other graceful like a maiden—quietly facing each other.
The best photo angle is achieved with a person looking back from the top of the steps, against a backdrop of blue sky and white clouds above, lush grass and flowers below, and an extending floral carpet with distant mountain silhouettes behind. Finding the right low-angle shot creates the most photogenic, dynamic scene reminiscent of "Altay."
Regular visitors to Tongjian Lake will notice changes to the Flower Cloud Steps this year: a larger footprint, a higher slope, and even better photo results. Staff explained that after its popularity surge last year, many visitors suggested increasing the height for better angles to capture the entire flower field and mountains in俯瞰 shots. Tongjian Lake took this advice to heart, promptly commencing construction this year to raise the grassy slope by 1.5 meters, while also expanding the summit area and adding more white stone steps.
The upgraded Flower Cloud Steps provides excellent photography opportunities. Besides俯瞰 shots of the flower field from the top, people can be photographed from below looking up towards the summit. Particularly, low-angle shots can create a breathtakingly beautiful atmosphere seemingly straight out of a Hayao Miyazaki animation.
In the evening, when the sunset casts its final golden-red hues onto the lake surface, the entire world seems wrapped in honey—glittering water sways with shimmering light, lakeside reeds are dyed a warm orange, and even the breeze carries a hint of sweetness. Strolling up the Flower Cloud Steps at this time, with the camera lens following the slope's incline directly to the summit facing the radiant evening glow, the interplay of perspective and light creates a sudden, breathtaking opening—beauty of the sunset becomes tangible in this moment.
While Tongjian Lake appears to be simply a lake, it actually functions as a flood control, drainage, and water regulation hydraulic engineering project.
Beyond the diverse and abundant flowers of the field lies the core water area of Tongjian Lake. Here, the lake water is clear, bright, and slightly cool. Islands dot the lake, the shoreline is rich with vegetation, and there are straight metasequoia trees and water platforms extending into the lake. Activities along the lake include cycling, walking, kite flying, camping, and water play.
In early summer at Tongjian Lake, submerged plants like hydrilla and hornwort sway with the waves. At the shallow water platform biological observation points, rare birds such as pheasant-tailed jacanas, Eurasian coots, and common moorhens can be seen resting or spreading their wings... a picture of natural and harmonious ecology unfolds.
Staff explained that Tongjian Lake has a surface area of 1.35 million square meters. While it looks like an ordinary lake, it is fundamentally a hydraulic project for flood control and regulation. To improve the overall flood control and drainage system in the Zhijiang area and enhance regional capacity, a new 1,840-meter bidirectional tunnel was recently constructed between Tongjian Lake and Xiangshan. Floodwaters from the upper reaches of the Xiangshan South Canal can flow through this tunnel into Tongjian Lake. Downstream, Zhoupu North Sluice and Xiayang Sluice connect to external drainage channels like Sanhaopu and Xiayanghengpu. This flood diversion capacity reaches 1.78 million cubic meters, significantly improving flood control conditions in the Zhuantang area, which includes the China Academy of Art and the Zhejiang Conservatory of Music.
This hydraulic engineering project allows Tongjian Lake to play a vital role in water diversion and distribution, flood disaster mitigation, and ecological restoration. After the lake's water storage project was completed, the scenic area released a total of 1.2 million fry, including silver carp and bighead carp. Following a series of ecological management measures, the water quality in the core area of Tongjian Lake has reached Class II standards. Currently, 2,190 species have been recorded in the area, including 30 nationally protected (Class I and II) plant and animal species and 28 provincial-level key protected species.
The flowing water of Tongjian Lake has also revitalized the scenic area. Beyond comprehensive landscape upgrades, it has attracted cutting-edge technology. Later this month, on the 15th and 16th, Tongjian Lake will host an unprecedented tech event—the National Underwater Robot Emergency Response Challenge.
Why was Tongjian Lake chosen for an underwater robot "racing" competition? The core area's water quality stably meets Class II standards, providing excellent visibility crucial for underwater competitions. More importantly, Tongjian Lake serves as a real-world outdoor "examination hall" with inherent multi-dimensional challenges. Beneath the thousand-mu lake surface, factors like wind speed, underwater visibility, and aquatic plant entanglements will comprehensively test the competing robots' search, identification, and precise operational capabilities. These natural conditions provide the ultimate test for the robots' true capabilities.
Century-old ancient tea trees are sprouting new buds, and the ancient technique of producing Jiuqu Hongmei tea is being perfectly preserved.
Continuing west past Tongjian Lake's waters, one encounters the various villages of Shuangpu Town—Hubu Village, Lingshan Village, Shuangling Village, and other pristine settlements dotting the mountainous landscape. Attractions like the Lingshan Fantasy Cave are also here. The environment is beautiful, life is leisurely, and families have lived for generations on this fertile land by Tongjian Lake, producing rich ecological products like West Lake water shield, Jiuqu Hongmei tea, wild fish, water caltrop, and foxnut.
A visit to Tongjian Lake would be incomplete without trying the local rustic cuisine and fresh river and lake delicacies. On Start of Summer, eating black rice is a popular tradition around Tongjian Lake. Locals believe that consuming black rice prevents mosquito bites throughout the summer. Therefore, as Start of Summer arrives, households gather leaves from the black rice tree, wash and chop them, pound them with a wooden mallet to extract the juice, dye glutinous rice with it, and then steam it.
For Shen Min, a native of Lingshan Village, making a delicious bowl of black rice is an annual ritual. This year, she accompanies it with fresh seasonal dishes like Chinese toon, bamboo shoots, fava beans, sweet peas, local sausage, and salted pork, creating several delicious "fresh treats" that, paired with black rice, are mouthwateringly flavorful.
After a meal at Tongjian Lake, enjoying a cup of tea naturally leads to mentioning Jiuqu Hongmei. This tea is the only red tea treasure among Zhejiang Province's "Nine Greens, One Red" top ten famous teas, and the Lingshan area of Shuangpu Town in Xihu District is the very birthplace of Jiuqu Hongmei. The tea production area in the Dawu Basin of the Lingshan area hosts over 5,000 old tea trees, including 12 century-old ancient tea trees, with the oldest being 160 years old.
Jiuqu Hongmei tea is highly esteemed for its red color, plum-like fragrance, and sweet, mellow taste. It won a gold medal at the 1886 Panama World Expo. In recent years, the aroma of tea has grown stronger around Tongjian Lake. Villages integrate resources from agriculture, lakes, tea, and education, allowing the ancient技艺 of Jiuqu Hongmei to be passed down. Many younger generations have gained recognition for their skills, including Feng Chenyu, a third-generation tea artisan born after 2000, who won the Special Gold Award in the "Jiuqu Hongmei" tea competition.
Tongjian Lake offers a wealth of attractions, not just the free flower field that changes with the seasons, but also hidden spots like karst caves and cultural heritage sites nearby, making it ideal for a full day of leisurely exploration.
Lingshan Cave: A natural air-conditioned room at 18°C in summer. Lingshan Cave, historically known as "Yunquan Lingdong" and now called "Lingshan Fantasy Cave," maintains a constant temperature of 18°C year-round, offering cool comfort. As a typical shaft-style limestone cave, its nearly 4,000-square-meter natural space features an awe-inspiring stalagmite hailed as "the first in Asia." Families and young couples can immerse themselves in exploring this marvel of nature.
Fengshui Cave: A site visited by Bai Juyi and Su Shi. Fengshui Cave, also known as Ende Cave, stretches over 1,200 meters with an area of 9,200 square meters. Its 116-meter-high "Nine Heaven Flying Dragon" stone wall is acclaimed by experts as the "Number One Nine Dragon Wall in the World." The cave's winding path features significant elevation changes, presenting over 40 scenic spots like "Pangu Rift Valley" and "Cloud Dam Water Screen."
Tanshan Park: Inscriptions by Zhu Xi. Though Tanshan Mountain is only about 100 meters high, it was historically frequented by scholars and artists who either resided there for study or left inscriptions on its cliffs. Records indicate that Zhu Xi, the great Southern Song Neo-Confucian philosopher, left two inscriptions on Tanshan.
As greenery spreads across the fields under new light and the warm summer breeze marks the lengthening days, the Start of Summer season brings flourishing flowers, brimming waters, abundant produce, and prosperous times. May this summer bring cool breezes to your heart and fortunate events your way. May you become someone as bright and vibrant as summer itself.
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