历下亭, on an island in the lake, is where 杜甫 wrote 济南名士多 in 745. A couplet by the lake sums up old Jinan: 四面荷花三面柳，一城山色半城湖, 'lotus on four sides and willows on three; hills for the whole city and lake for half of it'.
culture
The TV drama 《还珠格格》 made one line famous: 你还记得大明湖畔的夏雨荷吗？ 'Do you still remember Xia Yuhe by Daming Lake?', the question the heroine carries to the Qianlong emperor from her late mother. People quote it as a joke about a forgotten old flame.
