Explore Ecological Environment Around Dongting Lake

2015-11-23

T | T

East Dongting Lake National Nature Reserve

The photo shows little swans at the East Dongting Lake National Nature Reserve.

(Photo/Li Ga, Xinhua)

As the famous Chinese fresh water lake, second only to the Poyang Lake in Jiangxi Province, the Dongting Lake spreads wide on an area of 1,300 square kilometers. According to geologists, the lake area used to be part of an ancient anticline in south of the Yangtze River, but fell in a rupture during the movement of the Mount Yangshan 70 million years ago and became a lake.

Dongting Lake is composed of East Dongting, South Dongting and West Dongting. In ancient times, East Dongting Lake was a part of Yunmeng Pool. The East Dongting Lake Nature Reserve is one of China's 30 important wetlands in the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands. Every year, 217 species of migratory birds under state protection live through the winter here, such as white storks, white cranes, grey cranes and egrets. It will be a great fun if tourists take a boat tour in the lake, observe birds, listen to the waves, go fishing and taste delicious fish dishes in the nature reserve.

The Sanjiangkou Estuary (the confluence of Xiangjiang River, Yanjiang River, Jingjiang River) is another tourist attraction in Dongting Lake, where the lake meets the Yangtze River. As the lake's water is clear while the water from the river is turbid, the clear-cut currents were called by the ancients as "River Meeting"-a fantastic sight rarely seen elsewhere.

To expedite the transportation between Hunan and Hubei provinces, in recent years, the government has built Yueyang Bridge on the Dongting Lake-the longest highway bridge in China. Spanning over East Dongting Lake, the bridge is 10, 174.2 meters long, and is the first bridge with three main towers suspended with double-cable support in China. In addition to relieving traffic pressure, the bridge provides an express thoroughfare to facilitate emergent transportation of goods for floor control.

Reeds at Dongting Lakeside, Yueyang

File photo

File photo (Photo/Tang Zhijian)

Reeds are seen nationwide in autumn, but there’s a special scenic spot in Hunan – the Dongting Lakeside. The reeds are dense with clean and bright reed catkins waving in the breeze. Mature reeds can be 2-3 meters tall. Visitors may easily get lost in this maze of reeds.

Admission: free

Opening hours: all day

Address: East Dongting Lake National Nature Reserve in Junshan District, Yueyang

Transport: Bus Nos. 5 and 20

Tel :(86)730-8635328

Yueyang Tower

(Photo source: yueyang.gov.cn)

Standing on the bank of Dongting Lake in the northwest of Yueyang City, Yueyang Tower, along with the Yellow Crane Tower in Wuhan and the Prince Teng's Pavilion in Nanchang, is one of the three great towers in south of the Yangtze River. It used to be a watchtower for the soldiers garrisoning the city gate and taking a test. However, towards the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, this tower was changed to an inspection tower to review troops by General Lu Su of the Wu Kingdom (222). In 716 during the Tang Dynasty when Secretariat Director Zhang Yue was garrisoning Yueyang, he further expanded the tower and named it Nanlou or Yueyang Tower. In 1044 when the Song Dynasty general Tang Zijing garrisoned the place, he renovated the Yueyang Tower and invited his bosom friend, Fan Zhongyan, a well-known writer, to compose an essay Records of the Yueyang Tower, which won the tower great fame home and abroad. The Yueyang Tower is unique in architecture. Its three-storey main building is 21.35 meters high, with four huge nanmu pillars supporting the upturned roof ridges. One of its unique features is that its roof looks just like a general's helmet.

Junshan Scenic Area

(Photo source: yueyang.gov.cn)

Junshan Scenic Area-the largest island in Dongting Lake, is also called the "Love Island". It is made up of 72 peaks, covering a total area of 960 square meters. Junshan is the 11th blessing land under heaven and has been listed as the national AAAA scenic area. The main tourist attractions on the island include Liu Yi's Well, Tombs of the Two Empresses, Mottled Bamboo, Dragon's Saliva Well, Xiangfei Temple etc.

Dedicated to the two wives of Emperor Shun-Ehuang and Nuying the temple is 70 meters north of the tombs of the two Empresses. Comprising three courtyards, this building covers an area of 960 square meters. The 400-character-long couplets on the gate of the first courtyard are about this temple. The four-character plaque on the gate of the second courtyard reads "Whatever requested will be granted". The third gate leads to the main hall which houses the statues of the two empresses.

Yangsha Lake National Wetland Park

The photo above taken on August 9 shows a green natural scene seen in Yangsha Lake National Wetland Park, Xiangyin County, Yueyang City.(Photo by Li Jian, Hunan Daily)

In recent years, the county has always been upholding the basic principle of ‘priority should be given to conservation, reasonable restoration and utilization, and sustainable development’. It has built the wetland park into an ecological and leisure touring spot. It combines such functions as freshwater fish museum, ecological farm, lotus flower garden, water lily garden, rare animal species domestication base, and Hunan specialized fish village. The water has therefore become more translucent and natural environment much better. (Photo by Li Jian, Hunan Daily)

Bamboo Sea

(Photo source: yiyang.gov.cn)

Yiyang, as a famous "home of rice and fish" in the Dongting Lake area, is a major producer of food grains, cotton, oil-bearing crops, pigs and industrial crops. Its ramie accounts for one fourth of the world's production. It is also one of the ten major bamboo-growing areas in China. Its industrial products include ramie clothes, foodstuffs, cooking oil, bamboo sleeping mats, which have a good domestic and international market.

The Bamboo Sea scenic area is located in the Taohuajiang National Forest Park, covering a total area of 761 hectares. It is the largest ecological scenic area with bamboos in south China, and has been considered as a must-see spot. The whole scenic area provides an opportunity for people to be close to the nature, and to forget noisy urban life.

The whole bamboo sea area consists of numerous hills, generally with a height from 100 to 250 meters. The highest peak and the lowest altitude are respectively 335 meters and 37 meters.

Green bamboos are seen along the road. Climbing to the red building at the top of the bamboo sea, you can overlook the whole area, appreciating the flowing wave of bamboos, and singing birds.

The bamboo sea attracts numerous tourists from home and abroad every year. The former Chinese premier Wen Jiabao wrote his inscription “Town of Phyllostachys Pubescens” here.

According to the development plan, Taohuajiang Bamboo Sea will build a demonstration base for ecological culture and tourism.

Bamboo Culture

(Photo source: yiyang.gov.cn)

It’s worth mentioning that bamboo has formed a typical culture in China since ancient times. The oldest archaeological findings of bamboo articles in China can be traced back to 7,000 years. Early in the Shang Dynasty in 11th century BC, Chinese people used bamboo for household articles and weapons, such as bows and arrows. Before paper was invented, bamboo slips were mainly used for writing.

Today, bamboo is widely used for household articles like sleeping mats, beds, pillows, chopsticks, spoons, baskets, handheld fans even kinds of furniture. It is also used to make traditional Chinese musical instruments, such as flute Di, and Xiao. Besides, bamboo is also adopted in Chinese traditional medicine.

Bamboo is viewed as a symbol of traditional Chinese values. Ancient Chinese people designated bamboo as one of the “Four Gentlemen” of plants, together with plum, orchid, and chrysanthemum. Bamboo’s considerable resistance to stretching and its ability to support weight makes it a symbol of integrity, elegance and simplicity.

Taohuayuan/ Peach Blossom Valley

(Photo source: changde.gov.cn)

Taohuayuan is a national AAAA scenic spot. It is of significant historical and cultural value, for it was the origin of the story “The Peach Colony” written by Tao Yuanming, a famous poet in the Jin Dynasty (317-420 AD).

Besides, Taohuayuan is one of the four holy places of Taoism in China, together with E’mei Mountain, Wudang Mountain and Hengshan Mountain. The 35 caves and 46 paradise places there integrate the culture of Taoism, Buddhism and Confucianism.

Taohuayuan Scenic Area is composed of four scenic parts, namely Taoyuan Hill, Taohua (peach blossom) Hill, Qinren (people of Qin Dynasty) Village, and Taoxian (fairy of peach blossom) Range.

Taohua Hill
Taohua Hill scenic area covers an area of 2 square km, consisting of 30 scenic spots such as the archway, Wuliu Lake, Taohua stream, and several bridges, temples, pavilions and ancient residence. It is said the Qinren ancient cave is the entrance to the “Peach Colony” in Tao Yuanming’s essay.

Taoyuan Hill
Taoyuan Hill scenic area covers an area of 2.5 square km, with 10 scenic spots open to visitors. The area boasts splendid mountain scenery. According to a legend, long time ago, there was white fish demon stirring up big storms in the lake in front of the hill to flood farm land and even eating people and animals. A brilliant boy named Huang Wen subdued the fish but was trapped under the lake. Since then, people here lived a harmonious life, and the landscape has turned more attractive.

Taoxian Range
Taoxian Range covers an area of 1.5 square km, featured with idyllic scenery. As a romantic legend said, Zhinv, one of the seven fairy sisters, met cowherd Niulang here and they fell in love with each other. Because of the intervention of the Goddess of Heaven, the two could only meet once a year on Qixi Festival – the Chinese Valentine’s Day, falling on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month. And Zhinv assigned the fairy of Peach Blossom to build here a fairyland on earth.

Qinren Village

Qinren Village covers an area of 2.5 square km, boasting its 1,000-meter-long bamboo corridor with Chinese classic elegance. The Qinren ancient cave connects to the Peach Colony where exist a good preservation of the folk houses, drama stage, and water wheel of that ancient period.

Updated on October 31, 2018