Kunming Lake is located in the Summer Palace in Beijing, and its area is about three-quarters of the total area of the Summer Palace. Originally, it was a natural lake where many springs gathered in the northwest suburb of Beijing. It was once named Qililong and Dabao Lake. The predecessor of Kunming Lake is Wengshanbo, named after Wanshou Mountain. Wengshan Park is located in the western suburbs of Beijing, also known as the West Lake. About Kunming Lake, a legend has been circulating among the people:
Legend has it that during the Liao and Jin Dynasties, Mount Weng was a bare hill with a lonely little temple on the top. There is only one old monk in the temple. I wonder how old he is. Later, when the Mongols became stronger, Genghis Khan led troops to Beijing. At first, he was stationed in Haidian area.
One day, Genghis Khan and his minister of civil and military affairs went hunting in the western hills. Yeluchucai, a new minister, took a fancy to Wengshan at the first sight. He asked Genghis Khan to put people at the foot of Mount Weng and then went to the temple at the top of the mountain together. When the old monk in the temple met someone, he just asked and stood by. Genghis Khan asked him how old he was and replied that he was deaf. Ask him what the name of this mountain is, and answer or say deaf. A few words made Genghis Khan furious He drew his sword from his waist and tried to kill the old monk. Yeluchucai quickly advised him to stop, and hinted with his eyes that Genghis Khan said: This monk should not be deceived. And secretly issued an order to surround an Weng Mountain with wind and rain. Things done, the monarch and his party set up several cowhide tents not far from the small temple and settled down.
Late at night, Genghis Khan and Lu Ye Chucai were still talking. Suddenly, a small school entered the tent and knelt down and said, "I learned that the old monk in the temple had not rested, just holding a small stone jar and mumbling and crying." Don't know why? " Yeluchucai smiled and said, "It's very kind of you to be so careful. But don't disturb him! Let me know as soon as you have any new information. Go! " Shortly after the primary school left, the monarch and his subjects fell asleep, only to hear a loud noise, and then golden flowers flew around in front of them, and there was chaos outside the account. Just now, the primary school responsible for monitoring the old monk rushed to Genghis Khan's account, with a face of panic and sweating. It took a long time to make it clear that it was the old monk who stumbled out of the gate of the small temple at the fifth watch that day, holding a stone urn in his arms, and all the soldiers stopped him. Unexpectedly, the old monk was so strong that dozens of people failed to stop him. He ran to the cliff in three steps and even jumped down.
Genghis Khan and Lu Ye Chucai quickly put on their clothes and went to the foot of the mountain to watch. With the soldiers playing, the originally flat land suddenly turned into Wang Yang, with green waves rolling and spray splashing. Genghis Khan was happy and immediately ordered to build a palace here. The lake was called Wengshanpo. Yelu Chucai knows clearly that Mount Weng is actually a golden mountain, the stone urn is a treasure, and the old monk in the temple is the reincarnation of the God of Wealth. He knew that Genghis Khan had just arrived in Beijing, and the treasury must be empty, so he wanted to take the stone urn to Genghis Khan and make great contributions. Unexpectedly, the old monk didn't buy it. Before he laid hands on him, he poured all the treasures in the world at the foot of Wengshan Mountain and turned them into a clean stream.
Later, Lu Ye Chucai was critically ill. He said to Yuan Taizong's successor, Wo Kuotai, "I have a request, long live. After I die, please bury me next to Wengshan Park. First, I like the beautiful scenery there. Second, the jewels in the lake must be guarded day and night, so that I can do my best for you after I die! " Wokuotai buried Lu Ye Chucai next to Wengshan Park at his request. Later, Qianlong dug Wengshan Lake as Kunming Lake and moved his tomb to a small yard behind Zhichun Pavilion. There is a stone tablet in the yard, which was erected for Qianlong when he was buried.
The origin of the name Kunming Lake
Kunming Lake was originally a natural lake where many springs gathered in the northwest suburb of Beijing. It was once named Qililong and Dabao Lake. Later, Wanshou Mountain was originally named Wengshan, also known as Wengshanbo. Kunming Lake is a semi-natural and semi-artificial lake. It turned out to be a swamp lowland where the spring water gathered in front of the arch fan at the foot of the Western Mountain. In A.D. 1 153, after Yanjing, the capital of Jinding (later renamed Zhongdu), Yan Yanliang, the gold master, took a fancy to this scenic spot and built the Jinshan Palace here. In Jin Zhangzong, he drew spring water from Yuquan Mountain in the west and injected it into the foot of Jinshan Mountain.
At that time, Jinshan was renamed Wengshan, and the lake was renamed Wengshan Lake, and the water surface was larger than before. In the Ming Dynasty, the spring road of Baifu Village (Baifu weir) was in disrepair for a long time, the water source was exhausted, and the area of Wengshan Lake was reduced. In the Qing Dynasty, Wengshan Lake was deepened and expanded, becoming a huge submerged body twice the area of the Ming Dynasty, formerly known as Kunming Lake. This name was adopted by Emperor Qianlong of the Han Dynasty when he was practicing the navy in Chang 'an Capital. In the Ming Dynasty, there were many lotus flowers planted in the lake, rice planted in the paddy fields around it, and temples and pavilions near the lake, which looked like the scenery in the south of the Yangtze River, and thus had the reputation of "West Lake" and "West Lake Scenic Spot". Both Ming Wuzong and Ming Shenzong used to go boating and fishing here for fun. When Qingganlong built Qingyi Garden, it opened up the lake to the present scale, and named Kunming Lake after the story that Emperor Wu dug Kunming Pool in Chang 'an and practiced martial arts on the lake every summer. Bypassing the stream at the foot of Wanshou Mountain is called Houhu.