Chaiwopu Lake () is a freshwater

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 large ...

Urumqi, the Capital of Xinjiang-II
/ref> located in

Dabancheng District Dabancheng District ( zh, s=达坂城区, t=達坂城區, p=Dábǎnchéng Qū) or Dawan Cheng ( ug, داۋانچىڭ رايونى, translit=Dawanching Rayoni, ), is one of 7 urban districts of the prefecture-level city of Ürümqi, the capital of ...

, some 45 km southeast of

Ürümqi Ürümqi ( ; also spelled Ürümchi or without umlauts), formerly known as Dihua (also spelled Tihwa), is the capital of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in the far northwest of the People's Republic of China. Ürümqi developed its ...

, in

Xinjiang Xinjiang, SASM/GNC: ''Xinjang''; zh, c=, p=Xīnjiāng; formerly romanized as Sinkiang (, ), officially the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (XUAR), is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China (PRC), located in the northwest ...

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 ...

. The lake receives (at least theoretically) water from several streams from the

Bogda Shan The Bogda Shan ( mn, Богд Уул, Bogd Uul; zh, s=博格达山, t=博格達山, p=Bógédá shān) range is part of the Eastern Tian Shan mountains and located in Xinjiang, some 60 km east of Ürümqi. The topography of the area graduall ...

range. The lake is almost round, some 5–6 km in diameter, which makes it the largest freshwater lake in the Ürümqi region. Chaiwopu

Township A township is a kind of human settlement or administrative subdivision, with its meaning varying in different countries. Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, that tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, Ca ...

, Chaiwopu Railway Station on the Lanxin Railway, and

China National Highway 312 China National Highway 312 (312国道), also referred to as Route 312 or The Mother Road, is a key east-west route beginning in Shanghai and ending at Khorgas, Xinjiang in the Ili River valley, on the border with Kazakhstan. In total it spans , pa ...

are located near the northern and northeastern shore of the lake. Local media has referred to Chaiwopu Lake as "charming and beautiful". The lake and its surroundings are officially protected as Ürümqi Chaiwopuhu National Wetland Park (乌鲁木齐柴窝堡湖国家湿地公园). The name of the lake (and of the eponymous

township A township is a kind of human settlement or administrative subdivision, with its meaning varying in different countries. Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, that tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, Ca ...

) is occasionally written as Chaiwobao.E.g., on Google Maps as of 2010-05-01 This is probably a misspelling: although the Chinese character 堡 has two readings, "bao" and "pu", it is the latter reading that, according to dictionaries, is normally used in place names.

References

Lakes of Xinjiang Nature reserves in China Ürümqi {{Xinjiang-geo-stub