What lies beneath the enduring charm of West Lake? This volume reveals how this iconic Hangzhou landscape evolved from a swamp into a public space and, ultimately, a powerful cultural symbol. Through new interdisciplinary research, it reframes West Lake within long-term landscape formation, showing how interactions between people and nature shaped its preservation, aesthetics, and commodification. Chapters uncover overlooked histories—from water myth to dredging, from material culture to global reception—demonstrating how West Lake became a place where knowledge, art, and identity were continually remade. This book offers a fresh model for landscape and place studies in China and the broader East Asian cultural sphere.

What lies beneath the enduring charm of West Lake? This volume reveals how this iconic Hangzhou landscape evolved from a swamp into a public space and, ultimately, a powerful cultural symbol. Through new interdisciplinary research, it reframes West Lake within long-term landscape formation, showing how interactions between people and nature shaped its preservation, aesthetics, and commodification. Chapters uncover overlooked histories—from water myth to dredging, from material culture to global reception—demonstrating how West Lake became a place where knowledge, art, and identity were continually remade. This book offers a fresh model for landscape and place studies in China and the broader East Asian cultural sphere.