Ancient Lotus Pond

The Ancient Lotus Pond, located in Lianchi District, Baoding City, Hebei Province, is one of the Eight Sights of Baoding, known as "Lianyi Xiayan" (Summer Splendor of Rippling Lotus). As a national key cultural relic protection unit, it ranks among the top ten famous gardens in China. The Ancient Lotus Pond is renowned not only for its "secluded forests and springs, and the vast and misty scenery" but also for sharing the same site with the Lotus Pond Academy, which has spread its fame far and wide. Covering a total area of 24,000 square meters, the pond itself occupies 7,900 square meters. The pond water is divided into two sections, the north and south ponds, by the central island, and the winding east and west channels connect them as one. The south pond is crescent-shaped, surrounded by steep cliffs and verdant pines and cypresses. The north pond is an irregular rectangle, with jade-like stone embankments and drooping willow branches. The Water Heart Pavilion sits in the center. Since ancient times, the Lotus Pond has been landscaped with water as the focal point, gaining its name from the lotus flowers. The various scenic features in the garden are exquisite and delicate, elegant and unique, combining simplicity with ingenuity and plainness with wonder, embodying the essence of both northern and southern Chinese classical garden styles. Truly a pearl among ancient gardens in northern China, it has been described by predecessors as "almost mistaking this city for Penglai," earning the reputation of "City Penglai" and "Little West Lake."