Chapter from the book "23 Reasons to Fall in Love with Hangzhou", written by Natasa Vujicic
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Most people know about the Qiantang River, but what they do not know is that Hangzhou doesn’t end on its banks. On the “other side” of the Qiantang River, opposite West Lake, where only a few decades ago you couldn’t find a single multistory house, is now the international, ultra-modern Binjiang District (滨江区).
Every now and then, I crossed the river to Binjiang District to pick up my son from school. In years to come, I drove there during all seasons and under all weather conditions and I still cannot decide which time was my favorite. Merely driving over the bridge to Wentao Road (闻涛路) is an activity to keep in mind when planning a trip to Hangzhou. On a clear day, the sun reflects like glitter off thousands of tiny waves below. On a foggy day, you can barely see anything but dark fishing boats against the gray mist.
Once in Binjiang District, start from the Qianjianglong (钱江龙), the 48-meter-tall, 110-ton statue of the dragon riding a wave. The story behind this monument I learned from a friend, while we were sipping coffee. She wasn’t completely sure how it goes, but she was determined to find out. So she started browsing, checking resources and translating. After a good hour or so, she had the story ready. Hangzhou was full of people like her, who instead of brushing me off, genuinely tried to help, using their own time and resources. That made me, and will make you too completely fall in love with this city and its stories. The creation of the statue is based on the legend “King Qian Shoots the Tide” (钱王射潮).
During the time of the Wuyue Kingdom (吴越; 907–979) lived King Qian (钱王), who ruled the city. It was well known back then that inside the river lived a God of Tides (潮神). Every year, on the eighteenth day of the eighth month of the lunar calendar, he would emerge from the river, riding a white horse, raging and flooding the banks of the river. Year after year, King Qian witnessed the damage the God of Tides brought to the people of Hangzhou, until one year he’d had enough.
He gathered 10,000 archers to shoot the God of Tides and put an end to this catastrophe. Archers were chosen, the date was set, everyone seemed to be ready for the battle. However, right before the battle was supposed to start, most of the archers were still missing. King Qian personally went searching for them, all the way back to Baoshi Mountain (宝石山). It turned out that the archers were stuck at a very narrow passage where they could only pass one by one. Realizing that he would miss his opportunity to conquer the God of Tides, the mighty king kicked the mountain and cracked it open. The passage became wide enough to let the archers through, at the place known today as Dengkai Ling (蹬开岭). It is said that the imprint on the rock you can still see today was made by his foot.
Once at the banks of the river, the archers quickly lined up, took aim, and started shooting arrows at the first sight of the God of Tides. Once each of them had shot exactly four arrows, the God of Tides was gone. The river, originally known as the Zhe River (浙江) or Luosha River (罗刹江), was renamed to “Qian Embanked the River,” or Qiantang River (钱塘江), to commemorate this event.
Now you can take a stroll toward Fuxing Bridge. Across the river, is the Hangzhou Urban Balcony and Qiantang New City. This is probably the most recognizable photo of modern Hangzhou. The river is usually full of fishing boats. You may even witness one of the fishermen picking up the heavy nets filled with fish and climbing the slippery way up the shore. You can buy the fish right there, while they are still wriggling and splashing around – or you can take a photo, like me.
Continue farther and you will pass long stretches of graffiti, some of them drawn by the shaky hands of first and second graders, others by more experienced painters. I love this part of the river. It represents the Hangzhou that I know: supportive, welcoming, and united.
Somewhere along the river, you will notice cherry trees along the road. If you find yourself here in during the cherry blossom season, you are about to enjoy one of the most memorable sights of your life: kilometers of trees blooming with pink and white flowers.
If you walk far enough, you will see the skyscrapers slowly giving way to the green mountains, Six Harmonies Pagoda (六和塔) and Qianjiang No. 1 Bridge (钱江大桥). This double-decker bridge was the first bridge ever to be designed and built entirely by Chinese engineers. It opened on September 26th, 1937, destroying the notion that no large bridge could be built in this location. Eight weeks later, on December 23rd, it was blown up in a battle against Japanese army in order to prevent further invasion. Eight weeks later! A huge achievement at the time, gone in a matter of weeks. It was rebuilt in 1948 and that is the version you can see today.
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