In Hangzhou, there are myths and legends, stories, and superstitions. But, the best part about history in Hangzhou is that you can touch it. Young lovers can stand on the Broken Bridge and think of the great White Snake and the demon’s eternal love. Pilgrims can climb the Leifeng Pagoda and fancy themselves King of the Wuyue Kingdom. Ambitious young writers can walk the manicured trails to the mausoleum of warrior poet Yue Fei and imagine themselves fighting off the Jurchen invaders. Travelers to Hangzhou’s northwest Liangzhu can look back 5,000 years to the very beginning of civilization itself. Since those ancient days of porcelain and jade, Hangzhou has been a catalyst for change, success, and the brutal vicissitudes of imperial politics—traversed by the likes of Marco Polo and Ibn Battuta who saw a city so beautiful that they left it a legacy of words and brick. Rulers both brutal and benevolent trekked the shores of West Lake, empires like the Southern Song rose and fell, and travelers from across the globe came to seek their fortune only to find their home here in Hangzhou.