Chengcing Lake (), also known as the Cheng Ching Lake, Dabei Lake (大貝湖), or Toapi Lake () in

Taiwanese Taiwanese may refer to: * Taiwanese language, another name for Taiwanese Hokkien * Something from or related to Taiwan ( Formosa) * Taiwanese aborigines, the indigenous people of Taiwan * Han Taiwanese, the Han people of Taiwan * Taiwanese people, ...

, is an artificial

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 ...

located in

Niaosong Niaosong District () is a rural district of Kaohsiung City, Taiwan. History After the handover of Taiwan from Japan to the Republic of China in 1945, Niaosong was organized as a rural township of Kaohsiung County. On 25 December 2010, Kaohs ...

, Kaohsiung,

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

. The lake is not far from downtown Kaohsiung and the major suburban district of Fengshan. The lake is a source of the water supply network and a tourist area of the Kaohsiung region.

Park and aquarium

A portion of the lake with its shore is administrated as a gated park. A chateau of Chiang Kai-shek, the former president and military leader of

, is located in the park. Around the lake shore, Chiang also established an underground military headquarters, which has been adapted into a

public aquarium A public aquarium (plural: ''public aquaria'' or ''public Water Zoo'') is the aquatic counterpart of a zoo, which houses living aquatic animal and plant specimens for public viewing. Most public aquariums feature tanks larger than those kept b ...

, the Cheng Ching Lake Exotic Marine Life Museum. It was originally built as a tunnel in 1961, as protection against a nuclear attack. The Bridge of Nine Turns across the lake was built in 1960. It is 230 meters in length by 2.5 meters wide, including nine right-angled turns. The restored Zhongxing Pagoda the lake area's tallest structure, standing 43 meters high, with good views from the top, which can be reached via winding stairs. After

Mainland China "Mainland China" is a geopolitical term defined as the territory governed by the People's Republic of China (including islands like Hainan or Chongming), excluding dependent territories of the PRC, and other territories within Greater China. ...

fell under the control of the

Chinese Communist Party The Chinese Communist Party (CCP), officially the Communist Party of China (CPC), is the founding and sole ruling party of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Under the leadership of Mao Zedong, the CCP emerged victorious in the Chinese Civil ...

in 1949, General

Huang Chieh Huang Chieh (; 2 November 1902 – 14 January 1995) was a Kuomintang Army General from Hunan and was considered one of the best generals and administrators in Taiwan's Nationalist China leadership. He was commissioned into the Cavalry Branch as ...

led 30,000

Republic of China Army The Republic of China Army (ROCA), previously known as the Chinese Nationalist Army or Nationalist Revolutionary Army and unofficially as the Taiwanese Army, is the largest branch of the Republic of China Armed Forces. An estimated 80% of th ...

soldiers to Vietnam and they were stationed at

Phu Quoc Island Phu or ''variation'', may refer to: Places *Phủ, prefecture in 15th–19th century Vietnam People Given name *Phu Dorjee (died 1987), first Indian to climb Mount Everest without oxygen *Phu Dorjee Sherpa (died 1969), first Nepali to climb Mount ...

. Later, the army moved to

in June, 1953. There is currently a small island in Chengcing Lake that was constructed in November 1955 and named Fuguo Island (富國島) in memory of the fleeing Chinese soldiers in 1949.

References

Lakes of Kaohsiung {{Taiwan-geo-stub

Park and aquarium

See also

References