Architectural Changes Along The West Lake In Hangzhou And The Formation Of Cultural Landscape

From Qin Dynasty to the late Qing Dynasty,over a thousand years,human beings left abundant architectural traces along the West Lake in Hangzhou,making it gradually become a rare cultural landscape in China that rich in traces of long-time architectural activities.The scenery of Hangzhou West Lake is beautiful and its cultural connotation is profound.,which is the crystallization of the interaction between human beings,nature and cities.The relevant literatures of Hangzhou West Lake are extremely rich.This study has combed and textually studied the ancient books such as local chronicles,historical notes,epigraphy,temple chronicles,and collates more than 500 related architectural records such as addition,desolation,relocation and reconstruction.On this basis,combined with the historical maps attached to the above documents,referring to literati paintings and matching the topography and road network of the West Lake in Hangzhou today,the West Lake coast of Hangzhou is divided into four regions:Northern side,Southern side,Lake area and East coast.From the perspective of modern plane maps,a set of overview maps of architectural changes along the West Lake of Hangzhou are redrawn to reflect the iteration of regional buildings more intuitively.By summarizing the characteristics of the changes in the geographical location,distribution,type and quantity of the buildings along the West Lake in Hangzhou,the interaction between human architectural activities,urban development and landscape changes of the West Lake in Hangzhou can be analyzed.In view of the texture of the West Lake cultural landscape,this study discusses the organic process of architectural changes along the West Lake in Hangzhou,demonstrates the complexity of the West Lake as a cultural landscape,and analyses the logical connotation of the West Lake in Hangzhou becoming a world heritage cultural landscape,with a view to providing reference for the development of cultural landscape concept and heritage protection practice.