Huizhou West Lake

Updated 2026-05-11

A lyrical landscape of pagodas, causeways, and poet Su Dongpo’s eternal longing

In the heart of Huizhou, the West Lake is a serene and culturally rich oasis often compared to its famous namesake in Hangzhou. Spanning lush green hills, mirrored waters, and ancient causeways, this lake has inspired poets, scholars, and emperors for over a thousand years.

China’s most beloved poet Su Dongpo, has chosen that place to spent his twilight years.

Yet unlike the bustling crowds of Hangzhou, Huizhou West Lake retains an intimate charm.
From the ancient silhouette of Sizhou Tower reflected in the water to the poignant tomb of a cherished concubine , every corner of this lake tells a story of beauty, exile, and enduring love.

Hangzhou and Huizhou West Lakes

Interestingly, Huizhou West Lake shares more than a name with its more famous sibling. It has a Su Causeway 苏堤 , an Orphan Hill 孤山, Gushan , and a pagoda reminiscent of Leifeng Tower too.
This is no coincidence : during his exile to Huizhou in the 1090s, Su Dongpo was reminded of his earlier days in Hangzhou. He threw himself into local improvements, helping to build the causeway and leaving behind a poetic legacy that forever linked the two lakes.

Places to visit

The Huizhou West Lake counts several scenic sections and cultural landmarks that allow visitors to enjoy a full day experience :

- Su Dongpo Memorial Temple
- Pinghu : the central and most iconic section of West Lake
- Sizhou Pagoda
- Fengzhu Garden : it combines bamboo groves, traditional Lingnan architecture and quiet walking paths
- Hejiang Tower
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- Yuanmiao Taoist Temple
- Tomb of Wang Zhaoyun in Orphan Hill (below)
- Honghua Lake Scenic Area : a larger natural extension of the West Lake area popular for cycling and hiking
- Chaojing Gate : a historic city gate reflecting the city’s long commercial and military history.

Tomb of Wang Zhaoyun

Just a short walk from Sizhou Tower, on the eastern slope of Orphan Hill, lies a small tomb that holds one of the most moving stories in Chinese literary history. This is the final resting place of Wang Zhaoyun, the beloved concubine of Su Dongpo, a former courtesan from Hangzhou who was the only one person who refused to leave his side when he was banished to Huizhou.

In Huizhou, the harsh tropical climate proved too much for her fragile health.
In 1096, she fell ill and died at the age of just 34. Su Dongpo buried her on the eastern slope of Orphan Hill, overlooking the lake she had loved, and built a small hexagonal pavilion named Six-Character Pavilion beside her grave, refering to a Buddhist teaching that life is like a dream, a mirage, a bubble, a shadow, dew, and lightning : fleeting and insubstantial.

Above the tomb stands a couplet that Su Dongpo wrote in her memory, a testament to their deep, spiritual bond:

• 惟有朝云能识我 Only Zhaoyun truly knew me
• 每逢暮雨倍思卿 Every rainy dusk, I think of you doubly.

More than a merely concubine, she was Su Dongpo’s intellectual companion, emotional anchor, and the one person who understood his heart when the rest of the world had turned against him.
Legend says that when she first heard him recite a poem, she tearfully declared, "My heart is full of grief" : a sentence that became their private code.
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Nowadays, her tomb is a site of quiet pilgrimage. where visitors often leave small offerings, pause to read the inscriptions, and sit under the pavilion to reflect on love and loyalty.

About Su Dongpo

Born in 1037 in Meishan, Sichuan, Su Dongpo (Su Shi) was one of China‘s greatest literary talents : a poet, painter, calligrapher, and statesman whose brilliance illuminated the Song Dynasty. But his outspoken nature and refusal to bow to political factions earned him powerful enemies.
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#### Representation of Su Dongpo (Su Shi), Public Domain
In 1094, at the age of 57, he was stripped of his titles and banished to Huizhou, (at that time : a remote, malaria-ridden backwater south of the Lingnan Mountains). Far from succumbing to despair, the poet fell in love with his adopted home. He marvelled at its lush landscapes, befriended local farmers, and famously wrote:

• 日啖荔枝三百颗 If I could eat three hundred lychees a day
• 不辞长作岭南人 I would gladly be a Lingnan native forever

He threw himself into public works, helping to build bridges, dredge the lake, and construct the very causeway that still bears his name. He was exiled again, to Hainan in 1098 but his time in Guangdong shaped his legacy.
As a later poet wrote:

- 一自坡公谪南海 Since the great Su was exiled to the South Sea
- 天下不敢小惠州 no one has dared to call Huizhou small
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#### Thumbnail photo credit : Cangminzho (Under CC License)
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