Baiyang Lake, also known as Lake Baiyangdian, is located in the
Xiong'an New Area
Xiong'an New Area () is a state-level new area in the Baoding area of Hebei, China. Established in April 2017, the area is located about 100 km southwest of Beijing and 50 km east of downtown Baoding. Its main function is to serve as ...
of
Baoding
Baoding (), formerly known as Baozhou and Qingyuan, is a prefecture-level city in central Hebei province, approximately southwest of Beijing. As of the 2010 census, Baoding City had 11,194,382 inhabitants out of which 2,176,857 lived in the b ...
, a prefecture-level city in
Hebei Province
Hebei or , (; alternately Hopeh) is a northern province of China. Hebei is China's sixth most populous province, with over 75 million people. Shijiazhuang is the capital city. The province is 96% Han Chinese, 3% Manchu, 0.8% Hui, an ...
,
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
. It is the largest freshwater lake in northern China.
It is referred to as the Kidney of North China.
Environment
Baiyang Lake brings together nine of the upper reaches of the river water.
The lake is home to about 50 varieties of fish and multiple varieties of wild geese, duck, and birds. The lake and side parks also are home to a vast number of
lotus, reed and other plants. From harvesting the fauna and flora of the lake, the locals make a living.
Due to drought and over-exploitation of groundwater, as well as problems of
industrial wastewater
Industrial wastewater treatment describes the processes used for treating wastewater that is produced by industries as an undesirable by-product. After treatment, the treated industrial wastewater (or effluent) may be reused or released to a sa ...
since the 1980s, faced with the test of water shortages and pollution of ecological problems to Baiyang lake, the city government of Baoding plans to solve this problem in ten years at a cost of 8 billion Yuan (year 2006).
Tourism
Baiyang Lake is about two hours by bullet train from Beijing.It is a national and international tourist attraction flaunting its peaceful water scenes and vast lotus gardens. Hand-driven and motorized boats are available for small to medium-sized groups; large motorized boats are available for large groups usually accompanied by a tour guide. Tourists can travel by boat into waters full of lotuses and pick seeds, leaves, and flowers. They can also stop by boats or islands and buy local seafood. It is classified as a
AAAAA scenic area
AAAAA (5A) is awarded to the most important and best-maintained tourist attractions in the People's Republic of China, given the highest level in the rating categories used by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism. As of 2020, there are 279 touris ...
by the
China National Tourism Administration
The China National Tourism Administration (CNTA; ) was a Chinese government authority responsible for the development of tourism in the country. The CNTA was subordinate to the State Council. Its headquarters are in Beijing, with regional branche ...
.
Islands on the lake host local restaurants that cook with local ingredients and hotels for the overnight tourist.
In Literature
Baiyangdian is the setting for one of the classics in Chinese children's literature
Little Soldier Zhang Ga
''Little Soldier Zhang Ga'' () is a Chinese animated feature film from mainland China. It is also referred to as ''"Zhang Ga, The Soldier Boy"''. It is adapted from the Chinese children's novel of the same name, by Xu Guangyao εΎε
θ, which ...
by Xu Guangyao.
References
Bodies of water of Hebei
Lakes of China
AAAAA-rated tourist attractions
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