In an old street of Hangzhou lives a French cultural scholar named Christian Fardel. This scholar was also a voyager and an aircraft expert who sailed across the Atlantic in his youth. His keen interest in Chinese culture led him to China. He visited dozens of Chinese cities and finally chose to settle in Hangzhou.

At the mention of Hangzhou, all Fardel spoke about was the West Lake. He studied in Yuquan Campus, Zhejiang University, only one step away from the West Lake. He likes the classical and tranquil views there. 

"I knew about Hangzhou from the works of Marco Poloin my childhood, but never thought that many stories had happened in Hangzhouin modern China..." To his surprise, the West Lake was also the site of many historical events, including KMT-CPC peace talks, the drafting of the Constitution, visits by the Premier, and Sino-U.S. diplomacy.

In order to explore the history of West Lake over the past one hundred years, Fardel visited many historic buildings around West Lake. Located along the West Lake, Chenglu is the site where the KMT and the CPC secretly worked together and discussed how to fight against Japan. The May 4th Constitution Museum on Beishan Street is a seemingly ordinary building where the 1954 Constitution, the first constitution of New China, was drafted. Meijiawu is filled with tea fragrance and surrounded by continuous green mountains. Premier Zhou Enlai visited this site five times to give his instructions from 1957 to 1963.

After his visit, Fardel couldn’t help but sigh with emotion: Hangzhou has really played an important role in China’s modern history. In the past one hundred years, the Chinese people have worked hard to build their homeland into a prosperous, efficient, and harmonious country.

The "Discover Hangzhou" series of short videos, part of the Hangzhou Stories told by Foreigners Program jointly undertaken by the Office of Cyberspace Affairs Commission of Hangzhou and “In Zhejiang” has been launched on www.inzhejiang.com. The 8 episodes will tell you the fascinating stories of Hangzhou from a fresh perspective. 

Producer: Zhang Yuyi, Zhou Yi, Xue Yi

Video: Xuan Zexing, He Zhenzhen

Translation: Ye Ke