Slender West Lake (Chinese: 瘦西湖) is a scenic lake and national park in Yangzhou City (揚州), Jiangsu Province (江蘇), China. Fascinated with the beauty of Slender West Lake, Qing emperors Kangxi (康熙) and Qianlong (乾隆) had visited here six times.
Most of the old buildings in Slender West Lake have been destroyed during wars, the scenery we see nowadays are recent reconstruction.
The bonsai in Jinshange (金山閣) is said to be the biggest bonsai in China, the tree trunk of this bonsai come from a one thousand years old ginkgo tree.
Wuting Bridge (五亭橋) is the landmark of Slender West Lake, the scenery viewed from the pavilion of the bridge is beautiful.
However, not all replicas look good, for example, the bridge named Twenty Four Bridge (二十四橋) is not Choumeizai’s cup of tea.
In the middle of the lake there is a small shoal, on the shoal there is a lotus pond, although the lotuses in the pond have all withered, the scenery is still much better than all the man made structures alongside the lake.
