Dongting Lake or Lake Dongting (also Dong Lake, 洞庭湖; Pinyin: Dòngtíng hú; Wade-Giles: Tung-t'ing Hu) is a large, shallow lake in northeastern Hunan Province of China. 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. Hanyu Pinyin (Simplified Chinese: 汉语拼音; Traditional Chinese: 漢語拼音; Hanyu Pinyin: , lit. ... Wade-Giles, sometimes abbreviated Wade, is a Romanization (phonetic notation and transliteration) system for the Chinese language based on Mandarin. ... A lake is a body of water surrounded by land. ... Hunan (Chinese: 湖南; Hanyu Pinyin: ) is a province of China, located in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River and south of Lake Dongting (hence the name Hunan, meaning south of the lake). Hunan is sometimes called 湘 (pinyin: Xiāng) for short, after the Xiang River which runs through the province. ... Afternoon light on the jagged grey mountains rising from the Yangtze River gorge The Yangtze River or Chang Jiang is the longest river in Asia and the third longest in the world after the Amazon in South America and the Nile in Africa. ... Hubei (Chinese: 湖北; Hanyu Pinyin: ; Wade-Giles: Hu-pei; Postal System Pinyin: Hupeh) is a central province of the Peoples Republic of China. ...

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. At present it is the second-largest lake in China. The lake is also fed by four rivers: the Xiang, Zi, Yuan (沅) and Li rivers. In addition, the Xiao River (瀟) flows into the Xiang near Changsha, before the Xiang flows into the lake. Ocean-going vessels can travel through the Xiang to reach Changsha. Afternoon light on the jagged grey mountains rising from the Yangtze River gorge The Yangtze River or Chang Jiang is the longest river in Asia and the third longest in the world after the Amazon in South America and the Nile in Africa. ... The Xiang River (also as Xiangjiang River, Chinese:湘江 or 湘水, pinyin: Xiāng Jiāng, Xiāng Shǔi; Wade-Giles: hsiāng chiāng or hsiāng shuǐ), in older transliterations as the Siang River or Hsiang River, is a river in southern China. ... The Zi Jiang (also Zishui River or Zi River; S.Chinese: 资江 or 资水; T.Chinese: 資江 or 資水; pinyin: zī jiāng; Wade-Giles: Tzu¹-chiang¹) is one of the four largest rivers in Hunan province of China, also one of the main tributaries of the Yangtze River. ... The Yüan River or Yuanjiang (沅江 or æ²…æ°´) is one of the four largest rivers in Hunan province in southeast-central China, and is a tributary of Yangtze River. ... Lishui River (also known as Li River, Chinese language: 澧水，pinyin: lǐ-shǔi) is a river in Hunan province of China, one of the Yangtze rivers four largest tributaries in the province. ... Changsha (Simplified Chinese: 长沙; Traditional Chinese: 長沙; pinyin: Ch ng shā; Wade-Giles: Chang-sha) is the capital of Hunan, a province of Southcentral China, located on the lower reaches of Xiangjiang river, a branch of Chang Jiang. ...

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 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. The Han Dynasty (Traditional Chinese: 漢朝; Simplified Chinese: 汉朝; Hanyu Pinyin: ; Wade-Giles: Han Chau; 206 BC–AD 220) followed the Qin Dynasty and preceded the Three Kingdoms in China. ...

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 (Chinese: 鄱阳湖; pinyin: ), located in Jiangxi Province, is the largest freshwater lake in China. ...

Culture and mythology

The area is well-known in Chinese history and literature. 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. China is the worlds oldest continuous major civilization, with written records dating back about 3,500 years and with 5,000 years being commonly used by Chinese as the age of their civilization. ... // Classical texts Main article: Chinese classic texts China has a wealth of classical literature, both poetry and prose, dating from the Eastern Zhou Dynasty (770-256 B.C.) and including the Classics attributed to Confucius. ... Qu Yuan (Simplified Chinese: 屈原; Traditional Chinese: 屈原; Pinyin: qū yúan) (340 BC - 278 BC) was a Chinese patriotic poet from southern Chu during the Warring States Period. ... The four Dragon Kings (龍王; pinyin: Lóng Wáng) are, in Chinese mythology, the divine rulers of the four seas (each sea corresponds to one of the cardinal directions). ...

Junshan (君山), which was formerly a Daoist retreat, is a famous one-kilometer island with 72 peaks in the middle of the lake. The island is famous for Junshan Yinzhen tea, too. 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 hu2 nan2; "Hunan of the Xiao and Xiang rivers"). For other uses of the words tao and dao, see Dao (disambiguation). ... Junshan Yinzhen is a Yellow tea from Junshan Island of Hunan Province in China, it is one of Chinese Famous Teas. ...

The scenery of the Jiuyi Mountains (九嶷山) and of the Xiao and Xiang rivers below is often mentioned in Chinese poetry. 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. The fashion spread to Japan, where eventually other famous places were substituted for the Xiao and Xiang rivers. Quatrain on Heavenly Mountain by Emperor Gaozong Hand-painted Chinese New Years poetry pasted on the sides of doors leading to peoples homes, Old Town, Lijiang, Yunnan, China. ... The Song Dynasty (Chinese: 宋朝) was a ruling dynasty in China from 960-1279. ...

Major cities on the Lake

• Yiyang
• Yueyang
• Changde

Not to be confused with Yin yang. ... Yueyang (Simplified: 岳阳; Traditional: 岳陽; Hanyu Pinyin: ; Wade-Giles: Yüeh-yang; Postal System Pinyin: Yochow) is a prefecture-level city in the Hunan province of China, on the shores of Dongting Lake. ... We dont have an article called Changde Start this article Search for Changde in. ...

External links

• The painting Returning Sails off a Distant Shore: in the Kyoto National Museum
• Dongting Hu seen from Yueyang
• Pictures from Dongting, Yueyang