| Lake Dongting | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Location | Hunan Province |
| Coordinates | |
| Primary inflows | Yangtze, Xiang, Zi, Yuan, Li |
| Primary outflows | Yangtze |
| Basin countries | China |
| Surface area | 2,820 km² (flood season: 20,000 km²) |
Lake Dongting, or Dongting Lake (Chinese: 洞庭湖; pinyin: Dòngtíng Hú; Wade-Giles: Tung-t'ing Hu) is a large, shallow lake in northeastern Hunan Province of China. ( is a province of China, located in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River and south of Lake Dongting (hence the name Hunan, meaning In Hydrology, the inflow of a Body of water is the source of the Water in the body of water The Xiang River (also as Xiangjiang, Xiangjiang River, or simply as Xiang, Chinese: 湘江 湘水 or 湘 Pinyin: Xiāng Jiāng The Zi Jiang (also Zishui River or Zi River; SChinese: 资江 or 资水 T The Yuan River ( or Chinese 沅水 pinyin Yuánshuǐ) is one of the four largest Rivers in Hunan province in southeast-central China, and is Lishui River (also known as Li River, Chinese language: 澧水， Pinyin: lǐ-shǔi is a River in Hunan province of China In Hydrology, the discharge or outflow of a River is the volume of Water transported by it in a certain amount of time A drainage basin is an extent of Land where Water from Rain or Snow melt drains downhill into a body of water such as a River, Pinyin, more formally Hanyu pinyin, is the most common Standard Mandarin Romanization system in use Wade-Giles (ˌweɪdˈʤaɪlz) sometimes abbreviated Wade, is a Romanization system (phonetic notation and Transcription) for the Mandarin A lake (from Latin lacus) is a Terrain feature (or Physical feature) a body of Liquid on the surface of a world that is localized to the ( is a province of China, located in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River and south of Lake Dongting (hence the name Hunan, meaning China ( Wade-Giles ( Mandarin) Chung¹kuo² is a cultural region, an ancient Civilization, and depending on perspective a National It is a flood-basin of the Yangtze River (Chang Jiang); hence the lake's size depends on the season. The provinces of Hubei and Hunan are named after their location relative to the lake: Hubei means "North of the Lake" and Hunan means "South of the Lake" in Chinese. ( Postal map spelling: Hupeh) is a central province of the People's Republic of China.
Dongting Lake is famous in Chinese culture as the place of origin of Dragon boat racing. A dragon boat or "dragonboat" is a very long and narrow human-powered Boat now used in the team Paddling sport of dragon boat It is the site of Junshan island, and is a home to the Finless Porpoise, which is endangered in China. Junshan ( Chinese:(君山 is an island in Hunan province in China on Dongting Lake. The Finless Porpoise ( Neophocaena phocaeniodes) is one of six Porpoise species
Contents |
Geography
In the July-September period, flood water from the Yangtze flows into the lake, enlarging it greatly. The lake's area, which normally is 2,820 km², may increase to 20,000 km² in flood season, when vast amounts of water and sediment from the Chang Jiang flow into the lake. The lake is also fed by four rivers: the Xiang, Zi, Yuan (沅) and Li rivers. The Xiang River (also as Xiangjiang, Xiangjiang River, or simply as Xiang, Chinese: 湘江 湘水 or 湘 Pinyin: Xiāng Jiāng The Zi Jiang (also Zishui River or Zi River; SChinese: 资江 or 资水 T The Yuan River ( or Chinese 沅水 pinyin Yuánshuǐ) is one of the four largest Rivers in Hunan province in southeast-central China, and is Lishui River (also known as Li River, Chinese language: 澧水， Pinyin: lǐ-shǔi is a River in Hunan province of China In addition, the Xiao River (瀟) flows into the Xiang near Changsha, before the Xiang flows into the lake. Changsha ( is the Capital city of Hunan, a province of south-central China, located on the lower reaches of Xiang river a branch of the Ocean-going vessels can travel through the Xiang to reach Changsha.
History
During the Han Dynasty, Yunmeng Marsh (雲夢大澤; yun2 meng4 da4 ze2), which lies to the north of Dongting Lake in Hubei Province, served as the main flood-basin of the Yangtze. The Han Dynasty ( 206 BC–220 AD followed the Qin Dynasty and preceded the Three Kingdoms in China. The rich sediment of the marsh attracted farmers. Embankments were built, keeping the river out, and the Dongting Lake area south of the Yangtze gradually became the river's main flood-basin.
At that time, Dongting Lake was China's largest lake. Because of its size, it gained the name Eight-hundred-li-Dongting (八百里洞庭). Nowadays, it is the second-largest, after Poyang Lake (鄱陽湖), as much of the lake has been turned into farmland. Lake Poyang ( located in Jiangxi Province is the largest Freshwater Lake in China. Land reclamation is either of two distinct practices One involves creating new land from sea- or riverbeds the other refers to restoring an area to a more natural state (such as after
Culture and mythology
The area is well-known in Chinese history and literature. Chinese civilization originated in various city-states along the Yellow River ( valley in the Neolithic era Chinese literature extends back thousands of years from the earliest recorded dynastic court Archives to the mature fictional Novel that arose during the Ming Dynasty Dragon boat racing is said to have begun on the eastern shores of Dongting Lake as a search for the body of Qu Yuan (屈原), the Chu poet (340-278 BC), and a dragon-king is said to live at the bottom of the lake. Biography Qu Yuan born in the Xiling Gorge area of what is today western Hubei province was a minister in the government of the state of Chu descended from nobility For the Mortal Kombat character see Onaga. See also Dragon King (disambiguation The four Dragon Kings (龍王
Junshan (君山), which was formerly a Daoist retreat, is a famous one-kilometer island with 72 peaks in the middle of the lake. Junshan ( Chinese:(君山 is an island in Hunan province in China on Dongting Lake. Taoism (pronounced /ˈdaʊɪzəm/ or /ˈtaʊɪzəm/ also spelled '''Daoism''') refers to a variety of related Philosophical and Religious traditions The island is also famous for its Junshan Yinzhen tea. Junshan Yinzhen ( is a Yellow tea from Junshan Island of Hunan Province in China. The basin of Dongting Lake and its surrounding area is famous for its scenic beauty, which has been encapsulated in the phrase 瀟湘湖南 (Xiao1-Xiang1 Hu2nan2; "Hunan of the Xiao and Xiang rivers").
The scenery of the Jiuyi Mountains (九嶷山) and of the Xiao and Xiang rivers below is often mentioned in Chinese poetry. The Jiuyi Mountains ( are a mountain range of China in Hunan province on the border with Guangdong. Chinese Poetry is the most highly regarded literary genre in China. During the Song Dynasty, it became the fashion to paint this region's scenery in a set of eight scenes, usually entitled as Eight Views of the Xiao and Xiang(瀟湘八景). The Song Dynasty ( Wade-Giles: Sung Ch'ao was a ruling dynasty in China between 960&ndash1279 CE it succeeded the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms The fashion spread to Japan, where eventually other famous places were substituted for the Xiao and Xiang rivers. For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Japan topics.
Environmental issues
In 2007 fears were expressed that China's Finless Porpoise, a native of the lake, might follow the baiji, the Yangtze river dolphin, into extinction. The Finless Porpoise ( Neophocaena phocaeniodes) is one of six Porpoise species The ( ( Lipotes vexillifer, Lipotes meaning "left behind"
There have been calls for action to save the finless porpoise, of which there are about 1400 left living, with between 700 and 900 in the Yangtze, with about another 500 in Poyang and Dongting Lakes. Poyang may refer to Lake Poyang, a lake in Jiangxi China Poyang County, a county in China
2007 population levels are less than half the 1997 levels, and the population is dropping at a rate of 7. 3 per cent per year.
Pressure on the finless porpoise population on Poyang Lake comes from the high numbers of ships passing through and sand dredging. [1]
After flooding of the Yangtze River in late June 2007, approximately 2 billion mice were displaced from the islands of the lake. The mice invaded surrounding communities, damaging crops and dikes and forcing the government to construct walls and ditches to control the population. [2]
The lake was recently featured on news services as having a problem with schistosoma and malaria infected mosquitoes. A genus of Trematodes Schistosoma spp commonly known as blood-flukes and bilharzia, cause the most significant infection of humans by Malaria is a vector -borne Infectious disease caused by Protozoan Parasites It is widespread in tropical and subtropical regions including
Billions of mice were forced from their holes and were sent scurrying into local villages with officials opened the sluice gates on Dongting Lake in June 2007 to relieve flooding. Villagers killed an estimated 2 billion mice by beating them with shovels or using poison. The rotting mouse corpses must be properly disposed and other animals - like cats and dogs - were the unintentional victims of the poisons.
A restoration project, the Sino-Norwegian Project of Biodiversity Protection Management, a joint Norwegian Chinese endeavor began in 2005. According to a 2007 article in the China Daily, "[The Dongting Lake area] will be restored to a sustainable biodiversity environment within five to 10 years". The China Daily ( is an English-language daily newspaper published in the People's Republic of China. [3]
Major cities on the Lake
References
- ^ http://www.chinadialogue.net/article/show/single/en/839-Poyang-Lake-saving-the-finless-porpoise www. Yiyang ( is a city in Hunan province China. In 2002 the city had a population of 4 Administration The Yueyang metropolitan area is made up of six outlying districts two special districts and the city proper Changde (常德 is a city in the north of Hunan Province China, with a population of around 6000000 chinadialogue. net - Poyang Lake saving the finless porpoise
- ^ http://www.physorg.com/news103199287.html www. physorg. com - 2 Billion Chinese Mice Overrun Lake Area
- ^ "Lake back to health in 5 to 10 years" (on the website of the Ministry of Water Resources of the People's Republic of China. The Ministry of Water Resources of the People's Republic of China ( Chinese: 中华人民共和国水利部 Pinyin: Zhónghuá Rénmín Gònghéguó Shuǐlì Bù is )
External links
- The painting Returning Sails off a Distant Shore: in the Kyoto National Museum
- Dongting Hu seen from Yueyang
- Pictures from Dongting, Yueyang
- Saving the finless porpoise
Dapyx Software network: MP3 Explorer | Ebook Manager | Zenithic