Hongze Lake or Lake Hungtse () is the fourth largest

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 larger ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...

, in

Jiangsu Province Jiangsu (; ; pinyin: Jiāngsū, alternatively romanized as Kiangsu or Chiangsu) is an eastern coastal province of the People's Republic of China. It is one of the leading provinces in finance, education, technology, and tourism, with its c ...

and is encompassed by the prefecture-level cities

Suqian Suqian (, IPA: ) is a prefecture-level city in northern Jiangsu Province, China. It borders Xuzhou to the northwest, Lianyungang to the northeast, Huai'an to the south, and the province of Anhui to the west. History Suqian was said to be the s ...

(

Sihong County Sihong County () is under the administration of Suqian, Jiangsu province, China. It borders the prefecture-level cities of Huai'an to the southeast, Chuzhou (Anhui) to the south, Bengbu (Anhui) to the west, and Suzhou (Anhui) to the northwest. ...

and Siyang County) and

Huai'an Huai'an (), formerly called Huaiyin () until 2001, is a prefecture-level city in the central part of Jiangsu province in Eastern China. Huai'an is situated almost directly south of Lianyungang, southeast of Suqian, northwest of Yancheng, a ...

(

Xuyi County Xuyi County () is under the administration of Huai'an, Jiangsu province, China. The southernmost of Huai'an's county-level divisions, it borders the prefecture-level cities of Suqian to the north and Chuzhou (Anhui) to the south and west. Xuyi is ...

and

Hongze County Hongze () is one of four districts (a former county) of the prefecture-level city of Huai'an, Jiangsu Province, China. Occupying the southeastern shores of Lake Hongze, it borders the prefecture-level cities of Suqian to the northwest and Yangzho ...

Lake Hongze has quadrupled in size since the 12th century. A particularly large change happened in 1680, when the

Yellow River The Yellow River or Huang He (Chinese: , Mandarin: ''Huáng hé'' ) is the second-longest river in China, after the Yangtze River, and the sixth-longest river system in the world at the estimated length of . Originating in the Bayan Ha ...

changed its course and

merged Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) are business transactions in which the ownership of companies, other business organizations, or their operating units are transferred to or consolidated with another company or business organization. As an aspect ...

with tributaries of the Huai River. Heavy sediment from the Yellow River blocked the downstream of Huai River, and the pooling of the added water created Hongze Lake as it is known today. The city of Sizhou was completely submerged, as was the nearby

Ming Ancestors Mausoleum The Ming Ancestors Mausoleum () is the first imperial mausoleum complex of the Ming dynasty, and a cenotaph located north of the former Sizhou City, Yangjiadun, in present-day Xuyi County, Huaian City, by Hongze Lake, north of Huai River Jiangsu ...

(which was only rediscovered in the 1960s).Eric N. Danielson,
The Ming Ancestor Tomb
". ''CHINA HERITAGE QUARTERLY'', No. 16, December 2008. The North Jiangsu Main Irrigation Canal originates at Hongze Lake and passes through Jiangsu Province.

References

External links

Lake Hongze English guide
(Jiangsu.NET) Lakes of Jiangsu Huai'an {{Jiangsu-geo-stub