FEATURES

The Sights of West Lake: a Kind of Neurosis
Geremie R. Barmé

Lu Xun's 'Ten Sight Disease' 十景病

On 1:00pm, 25 September 1924, Thunder Peak Pagoda collapsed, taking with it one of the Ten Scenes of West Lake. Shortly thereafter the writer Lu Xun (鲁迅, penname of Zhou Shuren 周樹人, 1881-1936) published two highly influential essays on the subject. In the second of these, dated 6 February 1925, he lambasted what he calls the 'ten-sight disease' (shi jing bing 十景病), an expression he uses to characterize a particularly sclerotic Chinese approach to the world

Many of us in China—here I want to make it quite clear that I don not include all our four hundred million compatriots—have a sort of 'ten-sight disease' or at least an 'eight-sight disease', which reached epidemic proportions in the Qing dynasty, I should say. Look through any county annals, and you will find the district has ten sights, if not eight, such as 'Moonlight on a Distant Village', 'Quiet Monastery and Clear Bell', 'Ancient Pool and Crystal Water'. And this '十' shaped germ seems to have got into the blood and spread throughout the body, no less virulent than the '!' shaped germs which herald a country's decline. There are ten sorts of sweatmeats, ten different dishes, ten movements in music, ten courts for the king of hell, ten cures in medicine, ten guesses for the drinking game; even announcements of guilty deeds or crimes usually list ten item, as if no one would stop at nine. Now one of the ten sights of the West Lake is missing. 'All rulers have nine rules of government.' There have been nine rules since ancient times, but there have seldom been nine sights; so this should cause the sufferers from this disease a salutary pang, and at least make them feel times have changed, since one-tenth of their cherished malady has suddenly disappeared.

But I still feel sad at heart.

The fact is, this type of inevitable destruction serves no purpose. To delight in it is pointless self-deception. The cultured élite, the devout and the traditionalists with their glib tongues will try by hook and by crook to make up the ten sights again, and will not rest content till they have done so.

…If times are prosperous, and the ten-sight disease is rife, I suppose a new Leifeng Pagoda may be built. But its fate is easy to guess if the country folk remain the same and the old ways remain unchanged.[1]

我們中國的許多人，——我在此特別整重聲明：並不包括四萬萬同胞全部！——大抵患有一種'十景病'，至少是'八景病'，沈重起來的時候大概在清朝。凡看一部縣誌，這一縣往往有十景或八景，如'遠村明月'、'蕭寺清鐘'、'古池好水'之類。而且，'十'字形的病菌，似乎已經侵入血管，流布全身，其勢力早不在 '！'形驚嘆亡國病菌之下了。點心有十樣錦，菜有十碗，音樂有十番，閻羅有十殿，藥有十全大補，猜拳有全福手福手全，連人的劣跡或罪狀，宣佈起來也大抵是十條，彷彿犯了九條的時候總不肯歇手。現在西湖十景可缺了呵！'凡為天下國家有九經'，九經固古已有之，而九景卻頗不習見，所以正是對於十景病的一個針砭，至少也可以使患者感到一種不平常，知道自己的可愛的老病，忽而跑掉了十分之一了。

但仍有悲哀在裡面。

其實，這一種勢所必至的破壞，也還是徒然的，暢快不過是無聊的自欺。雅人和信士和傳統大家，定要苦心孤詣巧語花言地再來補足了十景而後已。

…倘在民康物阜時候，因為十景病的發作，新的雷峰塔也會再造的罷。但將來的運命，不也就可以推想而知麼？如果鄉下人還是這樣的鄉下人，老例還是這樣的老例。

Yu Qiuyu's Lament

Lu Xun was thus no fan of West Lake. Indeed he cautioned his friend the writer Yu Dafu against moving there with his family in no uncertain terms, declaring that the Lake 'undermined a person's sense of purpose'. The modern writer Yu Qiuyu 余秋雨 sums this up in his essay on West Lake and quotes Lu Xun's poem to Yu. In the Editorial to this issue we quoted Yu to the effect that:

There is a great centrifugal attraction among literate Chinese in a West Lake that is rich in symbolism and abstraction. There is an imperceptible evacuation of social memory; in its place what remains are the 'solitary pride' and 'vacuous reputations' of talented scholars and hermits buried in the charming hills and waters. Genius and frustration of grand proportions are reduced to become scenic sights for casual visitors. Sights and more sights; always sights.

然而，多數中國文人的人格結构中；對一個充滿象征性和抽象度的西湖，總有很大的向心力。社會理性使命已悄悄抽繹，秀麗山水間散落著才子、隱士，埋藏著身前的孤傲和身后的空名。天大的才華和郁憤，最后都化作供后人游玩的景點。景點，景點，總是景點。[2]

Yu's lament echoes that of Lu Xun: 'Sights and more sights; always sights' (景點，景點，總是景點). Yu goes on to say:

西湖的盛大，歸攏來說，在于它是极复雜的中國文化人格的集合体。 　

一切宗教都要到這里來參加展覽。再避世的，也不能忘情于這里的熱鬧；再苦寂的，也要分享這里的一角秀色。佛教胜跡最多，不必一一列述了，即便是超逸到家了的道家，也占据了一座葛岭，這是湖畔最先迎接黎明的地方，一早就呼喚著繁密的腳印。作為儒將楷模的岳飛，也跨身于湖濱安息，世代張揚著治國平天下的教義。宁靜淡泊的國學大師也會与荒誕奇瑰的神話傳說相鄰而居，各自變成一种可供觀瞻的景致。

這就是真正中國化了的宗教。深奧的理義可以幻化成一种熱鬧的游覽方式，与感官玩樂溶成一体。這是真正的達觀和'無執'，同時也是真正的浮滑和隨意。极大的認真伴和著极大的不認真，最后都皈依于消耗性的感官天地。中國的原始宗教始終沒有像西方那樣上升為完整嚴密的人為宗教，而后來的人為宗教也急速地散落于自然界，与自然宗教遙相呼應。背著香袋來到西湖朝拜的善男信女，心中并無多少教義的蹤影，眼角卻時時關注著桃紅柳綠、蓴菜醋魚。是山水走向了宗教？抓或是宗教走向了山水？反正，一切都歸之于非常實際、又非常含糊的感官自然。

西方宗教在教義上的完整性和普及性，引出了宗教改革者和反對者們在理性上的完整性和普及性；而中國宗教，不管從順向還是逆向都激發不了這樣的思維習慣。綠綠的西湖水，把來到岸邊的各种思想都款款地搖碎，溶成一气，把各色信徒都陶冶成了游客。它波光一閃，嫣然一笑，科學理性精神很難在它身邊保持堅挺。也許，我們這個民族，太多的是從西湖出發的游客，太少的是魯迅筆下的那种過客。過客衣衫破碎，腳下淌血，如此急急地赶路，也在尋找一個生命的湖泊吧？但他如果真走到了西湖邊上，定會被万干悠閒的游客看成是乞丐。也許正是為此，魯迅勸阻郁達夫把家搬到杭州： 　　

　　錢王登假仍如在，
　　伍相隨波不可尋，
　　平楚日和憎健翮，
　　小山香滿蔽高岑。
　　墳壇冷落將軍岳，
　　梅鶴凄涼處士林，
　　何似舉家游曠遠，
　　風波浩蕩足行吟。

他對西湖的口頭評語乃是：'至于西湖風景，雖然宜人，有吃的地方，也有玩的地方，如果流連忘返，湖光山色，也會消磨人的志气的。如像袁子才一路的人，身上穿一件羅紗大褂，和蘇小小認認鄉親，過著飄飄然的生活，也就無聊了。'（川島：《憶魯迅先生一九二八年杭州之游》）

然而，多數中國文人的人格結构中；對一個充滿象征性和抽象度的西湖，總有很大的向心力。社會理性使命已悄悄抽繹，秀麗山水間散落著才子、隱士，埋藏著身前的孤傲和身后的空名。天大的才華和郁憤，最后都化作供后人游玩的景點。景點，景點，總是景點。

Thunder Peak Pagoda, Leifeng Ta, was rebuilt in 2004. As we have noted in our Chronology of Hangzhou and West Lake, a few years later a new set of Ten New Scenes of West Lake was announced. This was the second series of new scenes in a little over twenty years. While ever new 'decalogues' may be announced in the future, we not here that the codification of the landscape of West Lake has been underway for over a millennium.

四字景目: Four Character Clichés

Indeed, the codification and enumeration of books, ideas, people, policies, buildings, landscapes and other sundry numerated lists has a long history in the Chinese tradition. On a recent visit to the West Lake Museum in Hangzhou (September 2010), we noted that the 'four-character descriptions' of Hangzhou's now-iconic 'Ten Scenes' are now termed sizi jingmu 四字景目, the neurosis of which Lu Xun complained has gone metastatic.

The Song

As we have noted elsewhere, the literary and pictorial dividing of West Lake up into viewing points and scenic spots began long before the Qing dynasty. However it is argued there were no ten scenes in the Southern Song as such. What would become in later eras the Ten Scenes of West Lake were taken from, or inspired by, the titles of paintings made during the Southern Song, predominantly by court artists. Zhang Dai is famed for his poems to the Ten Scenes based on poetic conceits of the Song period, to which were added a number of others (these are: 冷泉猿嘯、韜光觀海、天竺香市、西溪探海、蕉石鳴琴、鳳嶺松濤、靈石樵歌、九里雲松). As Liping Wang points out it was in 1699, during the Kangxi reign of the Qing dynasty, that what are still the main Ten Scenes of West Lake were determined.

The Qing

In 1722, the governor of Zhejiang, Li Wei (李衛, 1687-1738), is ordered to dredge the Lake and considerable efforts are made during the Yongzheng reign to restore the Lake and its environs. It is during this period that, although the reigning emperor did not visit West Lake, a new set of Eighteen Scenes (Xihu Shiba Jing 西湖十八景) are named. They are: 湖山春社、功德崇坊、海霞西爽、梅林歸鶴、魚沼秋蓉、蓮池松捨、寶石鳳亭、亭灣騎射、蕉石鳴琴、玉泉魚躍、鳳嶺松濤、湖心平眺、吳山大觀、天竺香市、雲棲梵徑、韜光觀海及西溪探梅). Yongzheng's son, who rules under the reign title Qianlong, affirms his grandfather's Ten Scenes by writing poems of his own to celebrate them and during his later Tours of the South he adds to this repertoire, naming Twenty-four Scenes of Hangzhou (Hangzhou Ershisi Jing 杭州二十四景). These include thirteen of Yongzheng's Eighteen Scenes. They are: 湖山春社、寶石鳳亭、玉帶晴虹、吳山大觀、梅林歸鶴、湖心平眺、蕉石鳴琴、玉泉魚躍、鳳嶺松濤、天竺香市、韜光觀海、雲棲梵徑、西溪探梅、小有天園、漪園湖亭、留余山居、篁嶺卷阿、吟香別業、瑞石古洞、黃龍積翠、香台普觀、澄觀台、六和塔、述古堂.

The People's Republic: the Eight Sites of the 1950s

In the early years of the People's Republic of China, although official policy supported the restoration of the original Ten Scenes of West Lake, the new government decides to create what it calls 'Eight Great Floral Sites' (ba da hua jing 八大花景). These are were:

One, 2000 new peach trees to be planted on the Su and Bai embankments;
Two, twenty mu of lotus planted at Quyuan Fenghe;
Three, 2000 maple trees to be planted on West Shining Hill;
Four, 500 plum trees on Solitary Island;
Five, 2000 cherry trees along the roads to the Temple of the Soul's Retreat;
Six, 1000 orchids (yulan) on the southern face of Geling Mountain, to turn the hillface white in the spring
Seven, 500 cassias for Manjue Long; and,
Eight, 2000 pines and ginko trees at Maojia Fu.[3]

The 1980s: Ten New Sights

The New Millennium and Ten Newer Sights

As we have noted in the Chronology of Hangzhou and West Lake, on 27 August 2007, following an involved process of popular nomination and expert consultation, another set of 'New Ten Scenes of West Lake' (Xihu Xin Shijing 西湖新十景) are announced at the Ninth West Lake Expo. They are: 靈隱禪蹤、六和聽濤、岳墓棲霞、 湖濱晴雨、 錢祠表忠，萬松書緣、楊堤景行、 三台雲水、 梅塢春早、 北街夢尋 (or, in simplified characters: 灵隐禅踪、 六和听涛、岳墓栖霞、 湖滨晴雨、 钱祠表忠，万松书缘、杨堤景行、 三台云水、 梅坞春早、 北街梦寻).

Notes:

[1] Lu Xun, Lu Xun Selected Works, translated by Yang Xianyi and Glady Yang, Beijing: Foreign Languages Press, 1980, vol.2, pp.113-114 & pp.117-118.

[2] From Yu Qiuyu 余秋雨, 'West Lake Dream' (Xihu meng 西湖夢), online, at: http://www.ccview.net/htm/xiandai/wen/yuqiuyu015.htm

[3] From 'West Lake is Being Transformed' (Gaizao zhongde Xihu 改造中的西湖), Hangzhou Daily (Hangzhou Ribao 杭州日报), 17 May 1950, collected in Jin Yanfeng 李延锋 and Li Jinmei 李金美 (Zhonggong Zhejiangshengwei Dangshi Yanjiushi, Zhonggong Hangzhoushiwei Dangshi Yanjiushi), eds, Chengshide jieguan yu shehui gaizao (Zhejiang [Hangzhou] juan) 城市的接管与社会改造（浙江［杭州］卷, Beijing: Dangdai Zhongghua Chubanshe, 1996, pp.466-68, at p.467.