Folk Tales of the West Lake

The West Lake of Hangzhou is famous for its scenic beauty. There's a good reason for that. For it is here that visitors can feast their eyes on the stately mansions of exquisite workmanship and the entrancing landscape with towering willows reaching down to the water line. Amid this setting the Chinese have spun fanciful tales about how the lake was born, why the city is famous for its silk, tea and parasols, and given us such memorable characters as the crazy monk and the Spirit of Black Catfish. All this and more, along with the illustrations in Folk Tales of the West Lake, will delight readers of every age and make us grin like children discovering a secret for the first time.