Poyang Lake (, Gan: Po-yong U), located in Jiujiang, is the 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 large ...

in China. The lake is fed by the Gan, Xin, and Xiu rivers, which connect to the

Yangtze The Yangtze or Yangzi ( or ; ) is the longest river in Asia, the third-longest in the world, and the longest in the world to flow entirely within one country. It rises at Jari Hill in the Tanggula Mountains (Tibetan Plateau) and flows ...

through a channel. The area of Poyang Lake fluctuates dramatically between the wet and dry seasons, but in recent years the size of the lake has been decreasing overall. In a normal year the area of the lake averages . In early 2012, drought, sand quarrying, and the practice of storing water at the

Three Gorges Dam The Three Gorges Dam is a hydroelectric gravity dam that spans the Yangtze River by the town of Sandouping, in Yiling District, Yichang, Hubei province, central China, downstream of the Three Gorges. The Three Gorges Dam has been the world' ...

lowered the area of the lake to about . The lake provides a habitat for half a million migratory birds and is a favorite destination for birding. During the winter, the lake becomes home to many migrating

Siberian crane The Siberian crane (''Leucogeranus leucogeranus''), also known as the Siberian white crane or the snow crane, is a bird of the family Gruidae, the cranes. They are distinctive among the cranes: adults are nearly all snowy white, except for their ...

s, up to 90% of which spend the winter there.

Formation

Poyang Lake has also been called Pengli Lake () historically, but they are not the same. Before the

Han Dynasty The Han dynasty (, ; ) was an imperial dynasty of China (202 BC – 9 AD, 25–220 AD), established by Liu Bang (Emperor Gao) and ruled by the House of Liu. The dynasty was preceded by the short-lived Qin dynasty (221–207 BC) and a warr ...

, the Yangtze followed a more northerly course through what is now Longgan Lake whilst Pengli Marsh formed the lower reaches of the

Gan River The Gan River (, Gan: Kōm-kong) runs north through the western part of Jiangxi before flowing into Lake Poyang and thus the Yangtze River. The Xiang-Gan uplands separate it from the Xiang River of neighboring eastern Hunan. Two similarly sized ...

. The area that is now Poyang Lake was a plain along the Gan River. Around 400 AD, the Yangtze River switched to a more southerly course, causing the

to back up and form Lake Poyang. The backing up of the Gan River drowned Poyang County and

Haihun County Liu He (; 92–59 BC) was an emperor of the Chinese Han dynasty with the era name Yuanping (). Originally King (or Prince) of Changyi (), he was installed by the powerful minister Huo Guang as emperor in 74 BC, but deposed only 27 days later, and ...

, forcing a mass migration to Wucheng Township in what is now Yongxiu County. Wucheng thus became one of the great ancient townships of Jiangxi Province. This migration gave birth to the phrase, "Drowning Haihun County gives rise to Wucheng Township" (). Lake Poyang reached its greatest size during the

Tang Dynasty The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, t= ), or Tang Empire, was an imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907 AD, with an interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dynasty and followed by the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdom ...

, when its area reached .

Environmental issues

Loss of wildlife

A fishing ban has been in place since 2002. In January 2020, China imposed a 10-year fishing moratorium on 332 sites along the Yangtze, including Poyang Lake to protect marine biodiversity. In 2007 fears were expressed that China's finless porpoise, locally known as the ''jiangzhu'' ("river pig"), a native of the lake along with other waters such as

Dongting Lake Dongting Lake () is a large, shallow lake in northeastern Hunan Province, China. It is a flood basin of the Yangtze River, so its volume depends on the season. The provinces of Hubei and Hunan are named after their location relative to the la ...

, might follow the baiji, the Yangtze river dolphin, into extinction. Calls have been made for action to be taken to save the porpoise, of which there are about 1,400 left, with between 700 and 900 in the Yangtze, and another about 500 in Poyang and Dongting Lakes. 2007 population levels are less than half the 1997 levels, and the population is dropping at a rate of 7.3 percent per year. Sand dredging has become a mainstay of local economic development in the last few years, and is an important source of revenue in the region that borders Poyang Lake. But at the same time, high-density dredging projects have been the principal cause of the death of the local wildlife population. Dredging makes the waters of the lake muddier, and the porpoises cannot see as far as they once could, and have to rely on their highly developed sonar systems to avoid obstacles and look for food. Large ships enter and leave the lake at the rate of two per minute and such a high density of shipping means the porpoises have difficulty hearing their food, and also cannot swim freely from one bank to the other. Furthermore, construction of

Poyang Lake Dam The Poyang Lake Dam, referred to as the ''Poyang Lake Water Conservancy Project'', is dam proposed to maintain water levels at Poyang Lake in Jiangxi Province, China. The lake is China's largest freshwater resource but has significantly decreased ...

is expected to cause devastating effects on the remaining porpoises.

Shrinkage

Due to the

upriver on the

river, Poyang Lake can seasonally shrink and dry up. In 2012, the lake nearly dried up completely. of land was underwater in October, while the lake is normally in area when full. In addition to the Three Gorges Dam, which must store water in its reservoir to be usable in winter, a drought was also blamed for the shrinkage. The

Jiangxi Jiangxi (; ; formerly romanized as Kiangsi or Chianghsi) is a landlocked province in the east of the People's Republic of China. Its major cities include Nanchang and Jiujiang. Spanning from the banks of the Yangtze river in the north int ...

local government has proposed to build the

to maintain water levels in the lake, building a sluice wall across the connection between the lake and the

river. An environmental impact assessment is pending. Scientists, as well as environmental groups such as the

World Wide Fund for Nature The World Wide Fund for Nature Inc. (WWF) is an international non-governmental organization founded in 1961 that works in the field of wilderness preservation and the reduction of human impact on the environment. It was formerly named the Wor ...

, have criticized the proposal, arguing that artificially engineering water levels in the lake will adversely affect wildlife diversity.

In history

In 1363, the Battle of Lake Poyang took place there; the battle is claimed to be the

largest naval battle in history The "largest naval battle in history" is a disputed title between adherents of varying criteria which include the numbers of personnel and/or vessels involved in the naval battle, the total displacement of the vessels involved and sometimes the s ...

References

External links

Chinadialogue.net: Saving the finless porpoise
{{Authority control Poyang Bodies of water of Jiangxi Shangrao Yangtze River Ramsar sites in China