Dianchi Lake (), also known as Lake Dian and Kunming Lake (), is a large lake located on the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau close to

Kunming Kunming (; ), also known as Yunnan-Fu, is the capital and largest city of Yunnan province, China. It is the political, economic, communications and cultural centre of the province as well as the seat of the provincial government. The headqua ...

Yunnan Yunnan , () is a landlocked province in the southwest of the People's Republic of China. The province spans approximately and has a population of 48.3 million (as of 2018). The capital of the province is Kunming. The province borders the ...

, China. Its nickname is the "Sparkling Pearl Embedded in a Highland" () and it was the model for the

Kunming Lake Kunming Lake ( Chinese: , p ''Kūnmíng Hú'') is the central lake on the grounds of the Summer Palace in Beijing, China. Together with the Longevity Hill, Kunming Lake forms the key landscape features of the Summer Palace gardens. W ...

in the

Summer Palace The Summer Palace () is a vast ensemble of lakes, gardens and palaces in Beijing. It was an imperial garden in the Qing dynasty. Inside includes Longevity Hill () Kunming Lake and Seventeen Hole Bridge. It covers an expanse of , three-quarte ...

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

. Its name is the source of

Chinese abbreviation Vehicle registration plates in China are mandatory metal or plastic plates attached to motor vehicles in mainland China for official identification purposes. The plates are issued by the local traffic management offices, which are sub-branches ...

. It is a freshwater fault

lake A lake is an area filled with water, localized in a basin, surrounded by land, and distinct from any river or other outlet that serves to feed or drain the lake. Lakes lie on land and are not part of the ocean, although, like the much lar ...

at above sea level. The lake covers . It is long from north to south, and the average depth is . It is the eighth largest lake in China and the largest in Yunnan Province.

Etymology

The

Chinese character Chinese characters () are logograms developed for the writing of Chinese. In addition, they have been adapted to write other East Asian languages, and remain a key component of the Japanese writing system where they are known as '' kan ...

for the lake is a phonosemantic compound of the

radical Radical may refer to: Politics and ideology Politics * Radical politics, the political intent of fundamental societal change *Radicalism (historical), the Radical Movement that began in late 18th century Britain and spread to continental Europe an ...

("water") and the character , whose current pronunciation is ''zhēn'' but whose

Old Chinese Old Chinese, also called Archaic Chinese in older works, is the oldest attested stage of Chinese, and the ancestor of all modern varieties of Chinese. The earliest examples of Chinese are divinatory inscriptions on oracle bones from around 12 ...

pronunciation has been reconstructed as ''*tin'' in Baxter–Sagart system.Baxter, William & al. "Baxter-Sagart Old Chinese Reconstruction"
p. 160
. 2011. Accessed 15 November 2013. The character was first found in the ''

Records of the Grand Historian ''Records of the Grand Historian'', also known by its Chinese name ''Shiji'', is a monumental history of China that is the first of China's 24 dynastic histories. The ''Records'' was written in the early 1st century by the ancient Chinese his ...

'' as the name of

Dian Kingdom Dian () was an ancient kingdom established by the Dian people, a non-Han Chinese metalworking civilization that inhabited around the Dian Lake plateau of central northern Yunnan, China from the late Spring and Autumn period until the Eastern Han ...

. Modern studies suggest that the element "Dian" is derived from the language of the ancient extinct Bo people and means basin. The character 滇 was use as the name of the lake since the

Han dynasty The Han dynasty (, ; ) was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China (202 BC – 9 AD, 25–220 AD), established by Emperor Gaozu of Han, Liu Bang (Emperor Gao) and ruled by the House of Liu. The dynasty was preceded by th ...

set "Dianchi County" (滇池县) in 109 BC.

History

Dianchi Lake was the site of the capital of the independent kingdom of the Cuan () during the first millennium AD. At that time, it was known as Kunchuan ().

Pollution

Pollution Pollution is the introduction of contaminants into the natural environment that cause adverse change. Pollution can take the form of any substance (solid, liquid, or gas) or energy (such as radioactivity, heat, sound, or light). Pollutants, the ...

is a major problem for the lake. In the city of Kunming, the capital of Yunnan province, parts of which are subtropical, there was traditionally no talk of water shortage, since the city is right next to one of Asia's biggest freshwater lakes. However, 90 percent of Kunming's wastewater was pumped untreated into the lake until the first wastewater plant was built in 1990. In addition, much of the marsh system around the lake was destroyed during the Great Leap Forward in a misguided effort to raise rice production by filling the marshes in with trucked-in soil. Agricultural runoff is also a major problem. As early as 2001, the lake's water became undrinkable despite several billion US dollars having been spent trying to clean it up. Some experts estimated that over 55% of the lake's fish population has been killed off by this disease-ridden type of pollution. The water in the lake is rated

Grade V Grade most commonly refers to: * Grade (education), a measurement of a student's performance * Grade, the number of the year a student has reached in a given educational stage * Grade (slope), the steepness of a slope Grade or grading may also re ...

(the worst grade) which makes the water unfit for agricultural or industrial uses. As of 2020, the water in the lake was still rated Grade V.

Biodiversity

Together with other Yunnan lakes ( Fuxian, Qilu, Yangzong, Xingyun, and Yilong), Dian Lake is recognized as an

ecoregion An ecoregion (ecological region) or ecozone (ecological zone) is an ecologically and geographically defined area that is smaller than a bioregion, which in turn is smaller than a biogeographic realm. Ecoregions cover relatively large areas o ...

. Among three major Yunnan lakes with a high number of

endemics Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

, the other two being Fuxian and

Erhai Erhai or Er Lake (), is an alpine fault lake in Yunnan province, China. Erhai was also known as Yeyuze () or Kunming Lake () in ancient times. Etymology The character "洱" (er) does not have the same meaning as ear (耳). During the Han to ...

, the most drastic

loss of biodiversity Biodiversity loss includes the worldwide extinction of different species, as well as the local reduction or loss of species in a certain habitat, resulting in a loss of biological diversity. The latter phenomenon can be temporary or permanent, de ...

has been seen in the Dian.Wang, Wang, Li, Du, Yang, Lassoie, and Hassan (2013). ''Six decades of changes in vascular hydrophyte and fish species in three plateau lakes in Yunnan, China.'' Biodivers. Conserv. 22: 3197–3221. doi: 10.1007/s10531-013-0579-0 Of the 25 native fish species and subspecies in Dian Lake, 10 are endemic to the basin: '' Acheilognathus elongatus'', '' Anabarilius alburnops'', '' Anabarilius polylepis'', '' Cyprinus micristius micristius'', '' Liobagrus kingi'', '' Pseudobagrus medianalis'', ''

Silurus mento The Kunming catfish (''Silurus mento'') is a critically endangered species of catfish in the family Siluridae. It is endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, n ...

'', '' Sinocyclocheilus grahami'', '' Sphaerophysa dianchiensis'' and ''

Xenocypris yunnanensis ''Xenocypris yunnanensis'', the Kunming nase, is a species of ray-finned fish in the genus ''Xenocypris''. It is endemic to Lake Dianchi in Yunnan Province, China. The species started to decline in the 1970s and has not been caught in the lake af ...

''. Today the only endemic fish known to survive in the lake itself is ''Anabarilius alburnops'', but it is

endangered An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching and inv ...

. The remaining have not been recorded there since the 1990s or earlier, and most of these are likely extinct. Two other species, ''

Schizothorax grahami ''Schizothorax grahami'' is a species of ray-finned fish in the genus ''Schizothorax''. It is endemic to Lake Dianchi, its tributaries and connected springs, in Yunnan Province, China. The species has not been caught in the lake in the past 20 ye ...

'' and '' Yunnanilus nigromaculatus'', are endemic to the general region, but have also disappeared from Dian Lake itself. Among the non-endemic natives, only gold fish and

Asian swamp eel The Asian swamp eel (''Monopterus albus''), also known as rice eel, ricefield eel, or rice paddy eel, is a commercially important, air-breathing species of fish in the family Synbranchidae. It occurs in East and Southeast Asia, where it is a ve ...

still live in Dian Lake. In contrast to the status of the natives, the lake is now home to more than 25 introduced fish species. The

Yunnan lake newt The Yunnan lake newt (''Cynops wolterstorffi'') is an extinct species of newt in the family Salamandridae, and was also known as Wolterstorff's newt. It was only found near the Kunming Lake in Yunnan, China. It was found in shallow lake waters ...

(''Cynops wolterstorffi'') was endemic to the lake, but it has not been seen since 1979 and is considered extinct. Many native

hydrophyte Aquatic plants are plants that have adapted to living in aquatic environments ( saltwater or freshwater). They are also referred to as hydrophytes or macrophytes to distinguish them from algae and other microphytes. A macrophyte is a plant that ...

s have also disappeared from the lake.

Gallery

File:Dianchi Silhouette.jpg, Silhouette of trees in Dianchi File:昆明-滇池.JPG, Cable cars above Dian File:滇池.jpg, View of the lake File:Dianchi Shelter.jpg, Shelter along Dianchi File:DianchiLotus.jpg, Lotuses in Dianchi File:Dianchi.jpg, Lotuses

References

External links

{{authority control National parks of China Lakes of Yunnan Geography of Kunming