Local Landscape Constructed with West Lake Folktales

Aiming at the application and category of landscape anthropology in the Chinese context, this research carries out a case study on the West Lake, a typical model with rich cultural heritage. Inspired by Levi Strauss’ mythological research, it adopts the main ideas and methods of structural anthropology to examine the structure, level and characteristics of local landscape constructed with West Lake folktales. As shown in the research results, the West Lake folktales contribute to the construction of the local landscape from the three levels of natural topography, artificial landscape, and cultural signs, reflecting characteristics different from the current cultural landscape framework of the West Lake as a world heritage site. It not only clarifies the formation of the West Lake’s geography and landform from a broader spatial scope, but also contains cultural signs for the construction of key local landmarks, famous products and specialties. These contents, important for outlining the local landscape, facilitate cognitive expansion of the concepts of cultural landscape, and suggest the possibility of applying landscape anthropology in the Chinese context.