Lake Dongting

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Lake Dongting, in northeastern Hunan, is the second largest freshwater lake of China, with an extensive catchment area including the whole of Hunan and parts of the neighboring provinces, Hubei, Sichuan and Guizhou. It serves as a great retarding basin for the Yangtse River. One hundred and fifty years ago, the lake was much bigger (6,200 km2) than it is now (2,740 km2), but the rapid progress of sedimentation and land reclamation works have since reduced its size, resulting in the formation of three more or less separate basins, West, South and East Dongting. In the summer flooding season, however, the three lakes unite into a single water body of about 3,900 km2 surface area. The water from the Yangtse River flows mainly into the West and East Lake through three channels, and is drained from the northeastern corner of East Lake at Yueyang directly into the Yangtse River again. The appearance of Dongting Lake changes throughout the different seasons, sometimes even during the same day. Many ancient Chinese poems and stories were written about the beauty of Dongting Lake.