Huajiachi

Huajiachi or Huajia Chi, Huajiachi Lake (Traditional Chinese: 華傢池, Simplified Chinese: 华家池), is a famous lake in Hangzhou City, Zhejiang Province, People's Republic of China.

Introduction

The lake now is sited inside the Huajiachi Campus, Zhejiang University. It's a beautiful lake and is the second largest lake in Hangzhou after the famous West Lake [http://baike.baidu.com/view/421849.htm 华家池_百度百科 ] ] . Along the lake there's a Chinese pavilion named "Huxin Ting" (湖心亭). The lake has a water surface of more than 90 "mu" and average depth of 2 meters [http://blog.qsng.cn/user1/njp/archives/2007/5439.html] .

"Hua (華/华)" is a common Chinese surname, and "jia (家)" means "family" in Chinese; so "Huajia" implies that this place probably belonged to the Hua Family in the ancient time. "Chi (池)" stands for "lake". And the Zhejiang University campus is just named after this lake.

There's a fairy tale about the lake. About six-hundred years ago, it was wasteland nearby, and a highly-ranked official Mr. Hua during Ming Dynasty Hongwu Era (1368-1398) once passed-by and first settled down there, opened the wasteland.

References