Shishahai (Beijing)

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Shishahai in fact composed of three lakes, known as the Xihai, the Houhai and the Qianhai at the fore. It is said that there were "Four Uniqueness" in the Shishahai, most nobles who helped Zhu Di in seizing the political power were southerners, they planted paddy-fields by the lakeside of Shishahai, thereby rendering rural scene of southern land in the north of China. This is "One Uniqueness of the Four". The "second uniqueness" is an expanse of lotus-flowers. Every year when lotus-flowers are in full bloom the Shishahai is decked out in red and green which extends a mile long with whiffs of fragrance in the air. The "third uniqueness" is to view mountains on Yinding Bridge. Standing on the bridge and looking westwards a stretch of silver water was shimmering in front of your eyes while green mountains were visible in distance. The "Fourth Uniqueness" here features a cluster of gardens and temples.
In Beijing there are quite a few names of places that end with the word 'hai' (meaning 'sea' or 'lake') such as QianHai, BeiHai and HouHai. The word 'hai' dates from the time when the Mongols under Kublai Khan first entered Beijing to begin the Yuan Dynasty. With Mongolian territory having no sea border, the Mongols were delighted to see so many lakes in Beijing and called them haizi, meaning park in Mongolian. Later Haizi was simplified to hai and people wrote the Chinese character for hai.