The Xiling Seal Engraving Society occupies a collection of pavilions and gardens on the small Orphan Hill island at the western end of the Baidi Causeway on West Lake. Founded in 1904, it is China's oldest existing academic society dedicated to the traditional art of seal carving — the painstaking practice of cutting characters and designs into stone, jade, or ivory used for official and personal seals.
The society's museum displays thousands of seals spanning two thousand years, from Han dynasty jade to contemporary work. The gardens are among the most beautiful on West Lake — climbing through terraced rockeries and pavilions to a small hilltop pagoda with views across the water. Even if seal carving seems obscure, the setting and the evident weight of scholarly tradition make this one of the more rewarding stops on the lake.