Dianchi Lake

Basic Facts of Dianchi Lake

Chinese Name: 滇池 Pronunciation: Diānchí

Opening Hours: All day

Admission Ticket Fare: Free

Lake Area: 330 square kilometers

Suggested Visiting Hours: 2-3 Hours

Address: Dianchi Road, Xishan District, Kunming City, Yunnan Province, China

Introduction of Dianchi Lake

Dianchi Lake

Dianchi Lake, also known as Kunming Lake, is in the southwest of Kunming. Rivers such as the Panlong River flow into this lake. Dianchi Lake, with beautiful scenery, is a national tourist resort in China. Surrounded by Yunnan Nationalities Village, Yunnan Nationalities Museum, Zhenghe Park and other scenic spots, the lake has an elevation of 1886 meters and an area of 330 square kilometers. It is the largest freshwater lake in Yunnan Province and is known as the Pearl of the Plateau. The average water depth is 5 meters and the deepest point is 8 meters.

The area around the lake often suffers from floods. The Songhua Dam was built on the Panlong River as early as 1262. In 1268, the Haikou River was excavated to increase the outflow of Dianchi Lake and reduce the flooding disasters around the lake. Since 1955, more than 10 large medium-sized reservoirs have been built on the various rivers in the upper reaches of the lake, dozens of electric irrigation and drainage stations have been built along the lake to relieve flood disasters and ensure the farmland irrigation, urban industry and domestic water. Dianchi Lake produces carp, crucian carp, money fish, etc.

Big Events Happened in Dianchi Lake

Seagulls on the Lake

Around the 1970s, some provinces in China set off an upsurge of reclaiming land from lakes. China is a country with a relatively small area of arable land per person. Every district wants to increase the fertile land area, and its subjective desire is beyond reproach. However, at that time, most people lacked ecological and environmental protection awareness, and Kunming followed in the same footsteps and did stupid things. With grain as the key link, the “reclaiming land from the sea” campaign to demand grain from Dianchi Lake mobilized the masses to fight day and night, filling approximately 20 square kilometers of water in Gaohai in less than a year. Since then, Dianchi Lake’s function of regulating Kunming’s climate has been compromised. Later, it was discovered that these newly created fields were not suitable for planting. The farms operated here suffered losses for years. After 1980, part of the new land was converted back into the lake, and the rest was used for other purposes.

The Legend About Dianchi Lake

Legend has it that a long time ago, Kunming was a dry land. A handsome hunter left his newly married wife and traveled across thousands of mountains and rivers to the East China Sea to find water. On the seashore, he saw a goshawk holding a small red fish in his mouth. The hunter swung his bow and drew an arrow to shoot down the goshawk and saved the small red fish. It turns out that Little Red Fish is the third princess of the Dragon King of the East China Sea. This princess likes the bravery of this hunter and wants to marry him. But the hunter missed his wife at home, and did not want to marry her. So the Dragon King imprisoned him, one day when the Dragon King was away, he broke his shackles and returned to Kunming. But his wife was died and turned into Sleeping Beauty Mountain. The hunter was very sad, spit out water in the abdomen, crashed into the mountain and died.

Dianchi Lake Top Amazing Sights You Should Not Miss

Haigeng Park

Haigeng Park

Haigeng Park was built in the early 1960s. It is located in the southern suburbs of Kunming--the “Spring City” in Yunnan province, beside the beautiful “Pearl of Plateau” Dianchi Lake, about 10 kilometers away from the center of Kunming, with convenient transportation and wide roads. Haigeng Park is an ideal spot to watch red-headed gulls in winter. In winter on the sea ridge, you can see red-headed gulls pecking at visitors’ hands everywhere, and countless white figures circling on the sea, which is very spectacular. Taking a holiday to Haigeng Park is suitable for all seasons. Haigeng Park is connected to the vast Dianchi Lake in the south, and has a coastline of 2.5 kilometers; to the west is the cable-way connecting Haigeng Park to Western Mountain Longmen; to the east is adjacent to the golf course and the national sports training base; to the north is the “Garden Hotel” and “Yunnan Ethnic Village”, which are closely adjacent.
 

Yunnan Nationality Village

Yunnan Nationality Village

Yunnan Nationality Village is located on the bank of Dianchi Lake in the southwestern suburb of Kunming, Yunnan Province. It covers an area of 890,000 square meters, which is a window to reflect and display the social and cultural customs of the 26 ethnic groups in Yunnan. There are 25 ethnic minority villages, where ethnic song and dance hall, ethnic square, Yunnan Ethnic Museum, laser fountains, water curtain movies and other tourist facilities are displayed. The ethnic villages adopt the method of restoration to show the ethnic customs of Yunnan. When you walk into this village, you can see ethnic villages of different styles, each showing its unique style. The colorful village buildings, production, life and religious customs of various ethnic minorities are faithfully displayed, which are the epitome of Yunnan ethnic culture.

Our Recommended Route

Dianchi Lake→visit Cuihu Park and Haigeng Park, and then you can walk to Yunnan Nationalities Village, and then buy a round-trip cable-way ticket at Western mountain Cableway Station to go up the mountain after visiting Western Mountain→take the cableway down the mountain.

Best Travel Time

You can have a visit to the Dianchi Lake in any season, and the Red seagulls can be seen from the end of November to March.

Ways to Get to Dianchi Lake

By Bus

Take bus 44, 24, 73, 94, 135, 172, 233 and get off at Haigeng Park Station(Dianchi Road) and then walk southward, walk about 60 meters along the Dianchi Road, go straight into the Hubin Xilu, walk about 50 meters, go straight into the Hubin Road, walk about 50 meters, turn right, walk about 580 meters to the Dianchi Lake.

By Taxi

Chinese: 请带我去滇池。English: Please take me to Dianchi Lake.

If you go to Dian chi by taxi from Kunming Holiday Inn City Centre, it takes about 40 minutes(about 40 yuan).

If you go to Dian chi by taxi from Kunming Changshui International Airport, it takes about 50 minutes(about 120 yuan).

If you go to Dianchi by taxi from Kunming Railway station, it takes about 30 minutes(about 35 yuan).

Winter Scenery of Dianchi Lake

authorName23242: Feng Ye

Date: 27/01/2021

Email: info@chinatourstar.com

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