West Lake Fishing Raft in Chaozhou West Lake

In the western suburbs of Chaozhou City, there is the West Lake and Hulu Mountain. The mountains and rivers complement each other and the scenery is very beautiful. There was once a tourist from other places who swam through the West Lake and lamented: "There are no lakes and mountains like this in my hometown." Someone also inscribed "Pictures of Lakes and Mountains" on the mountain, which shows the beauty of the West Lake scenery. Chaozhou West Lake Scenic Area consists of two parts: Hulu Mountain and West Lake. Since the Tang and Song Dynasties, and to this day, trendy people have been accustomed to going to West Lake to drink tea and "talk about ancient times" in their spare time. The story of "West Lake Fishing Raft" has been passed down through "talking about ancient times". Once upon a time, there was a Mr. Zhang in the north of the city who made a living by selling fish. He would go to the "Virgin Spring" every afternoon to listen to interesting anecdotes. Once when passing by a small lakeside restaurant, I saw a fish commonly known as a "fish tiger" tumbling in a deep pool of the West Lake. Unfortunately, I didn't bring fishing tools and I was not familiar with water, so I had to go to the "Virgin Spring" to listen to the ancient news. Early the next morning, Mr. Zhang went to the fish market to purchase goods. The fish warehouse was full of fish, and he had countless ideas about what kind of fish he wanted to buy. I suddenly remembered that I saw a big fish in a deep pool yesterday afternoon, so I decided to buy that kind of fish. Unexpectedly, business was very good that day. From then on, Ambassador Zhang went to Tan Cave every day to observe fish samples and made huge profits from selling fish. After getting rich, Mr. Zhang set up a sacred tablet at home, wrote "West Lake Fish Cave God's Table", offered incense and prayed for business prosperity. Therefore, it is not unreasonable that the current landscape of "West Lake Fishing Raft" was once considered by tourists as "West Lake Fish Cave". Then again, one day, Mr. Zhang ran out of fish and it was still early for lunch, so he went to the pond to see the fish. strangeness! The water in the lake is clear and there are no fish, but a pearl can be seen shining in its folds. After returning home, Zhang Laosan told his neighbor Li Laosan about the incident and asked Li Laosan to go to the Tan Cave to get the pearl. Li Laosan makes a living by touching stone snails and is well versed in the nature of water. His wife is about to give birth to a baby, and there is not even a grain of rice in the house. He plans to risk his life to get the treasure in exchange for money to support his wife's confinement. Under the guidance of Boss Zhang, Li Laosan risked his life and dived into the deep pool, finally reached the end of the cave and fished out the pearl. The two decided to sell the orb to an antique shop. The wealthy owner of the antique shop has been dealing in jewelry for decades, but he has never seen anything like this before, and he is very happy. But he thought that the two of them did not know the treasure, so he said: "This is a fake bead, worth at most five taels of silver." Li Laosan said anxiously: "Fake bead? This was found from the 'fish cave' in the West Lake at the risk of one's life. !" When the rich man heard this, he increased the price by five taels. Li Laosan said that he would not sell it anymore and asked the rich man to return the pearl. When the rich man refused to return it, the three of them started to quarrel. At this time, the magistrate of Haiyang County happened to be passing by here on his inspection tour. Boss Zhang asked his parents to come and comment. When the county magistrate saw that the pearl was indeed a rare treasure, and asked about its origin, he said to the officer: "Take these three people back to the county government office!" When they arrived at the county government office, the magistrate went to court for interrogation. The magistrate first said to the rich man: "This pearl is the treasure of the town, do you dare to buy it? I understand that you are a businessman, so go back without punishment!" The rich man left. The magistrate said to Boss Zhang again: "You instigated Li Laosan to steal the orb of the Dragon King who protected the city, and the people in the city will suffer! Do you know your crime?" Boss Zhang quickly begged for mercy, and the county magistrate fined Boss Zhang ten taels of silver. The county magistrate said to Li Laosan again: "Since you are a poor man, I will give you five taels of silver to return the pearl to its original place, so as not to make the Dragon King angry and the Chaozhou people suffer." Li Laosan kowtowed in thanks. A few days later, on the fifth day of May, the county magistrate reported that Li Laosan had arrived at West Lake and invited all the gentry in the city to listen. The magistrate said to Li Laosan: "Last night, the dragon king who protected the city gave me a dream, saying that he would use pearls to teach his children to play in the water. But your wife gave birth to a child, and your hands and feet were not clean, so I washed and purified the pearls with safflower and fairy grass. Seal it with red satin, and now you can send it back to West Lake, Chaozhou

Li Laosan took the red satin bag, bit it in his mouth, turned around and jumped down to the West Lake, returning the orb! . As soon as he climbed ashore, the magistrate immediately called the officers to tie him up and beat him to death with random sticks, and threatened: "If he is not beaten to death, he will come back to steal again tomorrow, and the people in the city will suffer." In fact, the man who was sent back to Tanxue It was a fake orb, but the real orb had been hidden at the bottom of the box by the magistrate. After some days, the magistrate resigned and took the pearl with him to go home. Unexpectedly, the boat encountered strong winds and waves when it arrived at Sanheba. The whole family turned into the river to feed the fish. The orb was finally returned to the Dragon King. Strangely enough, since the "Baozhu" was introduced, more and more fish have been caught in the West Lake. Moreover, the fish in the West Lake are as delicious as stream fish and pond fish, "fresh but not fishy", so fishermen flock to the lake. . At that time, the surface of the West Lake was calm, the lush trees and unique pavilions were reflected in the lake, and fishing rafts appeared in the lake and mountains. Fishermen throw their nets to catch fish, and after returning home with a full load, they gather on the shore to dry their nets and dry their clothes, while they drink, talk and laugh, which is full of joy. It crosses the West Lake from Hongqiao, which means "flying across the rainbow".

In the early years of the Republic of China, the warlord Hong Zhaolin, known as "Chao Batian", renamed the Hongqiao built by Chaozhou people with funds as "Hongqiao"; he occupied the West Lake Park as a private property and named it "Hongyuan"; he also erected a bridge in Furong Pond. His stone statue. These shameless attempts to occupy the West Lake and enjoy the beautiful scenery were not tolerated by the people. Later, his stone statue was demolished.