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chapter fourteen @ 2004 January

new west lake - hubin

Shortly after work was completed on the South Line, the city announced that it planned to overhaul the east and west sides of the lake including, building a tunnel from the north to the south end of the lake. This would allow the city to turn the main street on the east side of the lake, Hubin Lu into a pedestrian-only park.

This would be a massive project and would involve draining the eastern part of the lake. Up went the familiar blue fences again, hiding the extensive work from the masses. With Hubin Lu closed, traffic around the east-side of the lake became a massive mess. This lasted for many months. Strangely enough (actually not so strange if you live in China where advanced planning doesn't seem to exist beyond tomorrow), some of the newly opened South Line renovations got ripped up again so they could build the southern mouth of the tunnel. Apparently, one hand hadn't known what the other was planning the previous year.

Occasionally, I would go to a coffee house at the north end of the lake and from the fourth floor, I could see what was happening behind the fences on Hubin Lu. There had been a very popular strip of tea houses, a Haagen Dazs shop, a TCBY Yoghurt shop, and the ever-popular (with foreigners) Foreign Language Bookstore. Some of the buildings were less than 5 years old. All of them were levelled.

One night, I was walking along the blue fence and I saw a gap in the fence. I peeked through and what I saw really surprised me. The tunnel construction project was a masive effort in manpower, manned mostly by migrant workers. They needed a place to sleep. Peeking through the fence, I saw the lights on a temporary 3 story dormitory building that had been cobbled together to house the workers. If you've been in CHina for any time at all, you know that this is a common sight at construction sites here. Before they actually start building the main buildings, they first throw up some temporary dormitories for housing the workers, most of whom migrate to the cities from the rural areas in search of work.

What shocked me that night as I peeked through the fence, was that this temporary dormitory had been erected on the now-drained lakebed of West Lake! It was sitting about 50 meters from the shoreline. West Lake is only a few meters deep, so when they finished the construction work, they would have to disassemble the temporary dorm before re-filling that portion of the lake. I tried to snap a picture before I got hustled away by a guard, but it was too dark and the dorm lights too far away and dim. Alas, the picture didn't come out.

But on October 1st, 2003, China's National Day, true to plans, the blue fences came down to reveal a filled West Lake, a brand-spanking new Hubin Park (complete with a Marco Polo statue), a new 5-star toilet (coincidentally...or not...located on the exact site where the Foreign Language Bookstore had once squatted, and, a new 1.5 kilometer tunnel running from the north-end of the lake and spilling out onto the South Line. No longer could you drive along the east-side of the lake. Now you drove under it. Some of my fondest memories of Hangzhou are when arriving or returning to Hangzhou after travelling and taking a taxi from the train station, driving along old Hubin Lu and seeing the beautiful lake on my way back to my place on the north side of the city. Nevermore.

Everything had changed. I wandered around the east side dumbfounded. I had only been living in Hangzhou for almost 3 years and went to the lake at least once a week. And now it was completely and totally different. I imagine that lifelong residents of Hangzhou were more shocked than I. Streets had been reconfigured, old hutongs razed and new buildings (still vacant) built in the reconfigured area. But to be honest, after a few weeks, I started to like it. The new buildings style matched the area well. A kind-of Shanghai style, turn-of-the-century smoked brick but with modern touches like lots of glass.

I can guarantee one thing, if you have ever visited Hangzhou, but not since October 1st, 2003, you too, will be shocked. It's THAT different, but well worth a new visit. Here's a few photos for those who know Old Hubin Lu well. They will appreciate the changed scene.

Oh yeah.....and the new West Lake Tunnel.......

Click Next to see the New West Line