Lake Poyang

Lake Poyang (Poyang Hu) is the largest freshwater lake in China. It has a surface area of 3,585 km² (1400 square miles) and an average depth of 8 meters (about 26 feet). It is fed by the Gan and Xiu rivers, which connect to the Yangtze River (Cháng Jiāng) through a channel. The lake actually is composed of a system of lakes and marshes and can vary in size greatly depending on the season and the amount of water that feeds into it. In the summer, the region becomes flooded as the lake serves as a retention lake for flooding from the Yangtze. In the winter, the whole area becomes a huge marsh. Over the centuries the lake has been silting up. Nanchang originally was situated on the lakeshore but is now about 15 miles from the lake.

There are 102 species of aquatic plants and 122 species of fish in the Lake. There are over 280 species of bird of which there are 115 species of waterfowl. This accounts for over half of all the species of waterfowl found in China. In late autumn and early winter, thousands and thousands of birds migrate from Siberia of Russia, Mongolia, Japan, Korea, and northeastern and northwestern China to winter at the lake. Lake Poyang is known for having the biggest wintering population of white cranes in the world, more than 95% of the total white crane population. Other protected birds include the white stork, black stork and swan.

Lake Poyang has numerous scenic sights such as the Fallen-Star Boulder and the Big Solitary Hill in the lake and Zhouyu Dianjiang Platform (the platform for Zhouyu, a famous senior official in the Three Kingdoms Period, to name his soldiers for particular posts) and Lake for Viewing Pavilion along the bank.

A famous naval battle took place on Lake Poyang in 1363 during the Yuan Dynasty. The Ming rebel forces defeated the Han fleet and five years after the battle, the commander of the Ming fleet became the first emperor of the Ming Dynasty.