Baiyangdian is the largest freshwater wetland on the North China Plain, a maze of more than a hundred shallow lakes, reed beds and channels in central Hebei. Famous for lotus, reed weaving and the wartime guerrillas of Sun Li's stories, it now lies at the centre of the Xiong'an New Area founded in 2017.
Key facts
- Type
- Shallow freshwater lake and reed wetland
- Basins
- about 140 linked lakes[1]
- Region
- Xiong'an New Area, Hebei
- River system
- Daqing River, Hai River basin
Overview
Baiyangdian is not one lake but a cluster of some 140 shallow basins (淀, diàn) linked by thousands of channels and separated by reed islands and villages. Boats have always been the main means of transport; fishing, duck farming and reed weaving were the traditional livelihoods, and the villages on the water were reached only by boat until recent decades.
The wetland is known far beyond Hebei through literature: Sun Li's short story “Lotus Creek” (1945) turned the reed marshes and the women of the lake into images of the anti-Japanese war. Since 2017 it has been the ecological core of the Xiong'an New Area, and large programmes have worked to restore its water quality and water level.
How the landscape formed
The lake occupies a depression in the alluvial plain between the Taihang Mountains and the Bohai Sea, where rivers descending from the mountains once spread out before reaching the Daqing River. Sediment built natural levees and left low basins behind them. Nine rivers fed the wetland historically; many dried up in the late twentieth century as upstream water was used, and the lake shrank or even dried out in drought years. Since the 2010s water diverted from reservoirs and the Yellow River has kept it filled.
Highlights
Lotus garden
荷花大观园
Ponds of cultivated lotus varieties that flower from late June to August.
Reed marshes
芦苇荡
The channels between tall reeds, best seen by small boat.
Gazi Village
嘎子村
A themed village recalling the boy guerrilla hero of the novel and film “Little Soldier Zhang Ga”.
Yanling Squad Memorial
雁翎队纪念馆
Museum of the waterborne guerrilla unit that fought on the lake during the war against Japan.
Villages on the water
水上村庄
Villages such as Quantou (圈头) built on islands in the lake, still linked by boat.
Plants and wildlife
As the largest wetland of the North China Plain, Baiyangdian is a resting place for water birds on the East Asian flyway and a nursery for freshwater fish. Water quality and quantity have long been its main problems; restoration since 2017 has brought back birds and fish that had become rare.
Plants
Common reed
芦苇
Phragmites australis, covering much of the wetland and the raw material of the local weaving craft.
Lotus
荷花
Nelumbo nucifera, both wild and cultivated, the emblem of the lake.
Water caltrop
菱角
A floating plant whose horned nuts are harvested in autumn.
Wildlife
Baer's pochard
青头潜鸭
A critically endangered diving duck that has returned to breed on the lake.
Grey heron
苍鹭
A common fisher of the reed channels.
Mandarin fish
鳜鱼
One of the prized lake fish of local cooking.
Culture and legend
The lake people developed a boat culture of their own: flat punts, reed mats and baskets, cormorant fishing and duck rearing. During the Second Sino-Japanese War the marshes sheltered the Yanling Squad, a guerrilla unit named after the goose-feather caps they fitted to their fowling guns to keep the powder dry. Sun Li's stories and the “Lotus Creek school” (荷花淀派) of writers that followed him made the lake a literary landscape.
Lotus Creek
荷花淀
The setting of Sun Li's 1945 story, still one of the best-known texts in Chinese school readers.
Reed weaving
苇编
Mats, screens and baskets woven from lake reeds, a craft of the lakeside villages.
History
Song dynasty (960–1279)
Wetlands used as a defensive line
The Northern Song flooded and extended the marshes as a barrier against Liao cavalry.
1939–1945
Yanling Squad on the lake
Waterborne guerrillas fight the Japanese occupation.
1945
Sun Li publishes “Lotus Creek”
The lake becomes a symbol in modern Chinese literature.
1980s
The lake dries out in drought years
Upstream water use and dry years expose the lake bed, prompting water transfers.
2017
Xiong'an New Area founded
Baiyangdian becomes the ecological centre of a planned new city and a major restoration project.
Through the seasons
Spring
Water birds arrive and reeds sprout; windy and dry.
Summer
Lotus in flower from late June to August; hot and humid, the main boating season.
Autumn
Reeds turn golden and are harvested; lotus roots and water caltrops come to market.
Winter
The lake freezes; villagers travel on the ice and the reed harvest continues.
Routes and ways in
Boat tour of the channels
Boats leave from several piers on the Anxin County shore and wind through reed channels to the lotus garden and water villages.
Practical notes
- The lake lies mainly in Anxin County in the Xiong'an New Area, administered from Baoding; high-speed trains reach Xiong'an from Beijing.
- Summer brings mosquitoes and strong sun on the water; take protection.
- Boats are the only way into much of the wetland; travel with licensed boat operators.
Cities to start from
Frequently asked questions
Sources
- Xiong'an New Area — Hebei Xiong'an New Area Administrative Committee (retrieved 27 September 2026)
- Hebei Provincial People's Government — Hebei Provincial People's Government (retrieved 27 September 2026)
- Ministry of Ecology and Environment — Ministry of Ecology and Environment of the PRC (retrieved 27 September 2026)
More mountains and nature in Hebei
Related
Province
Hebei →
Hebei is a province of north China that encloses Beijing and Tianjin and reaches from the Bohai Sea to the Mongolian Plateau. Known historically as…
City · Hebei
Baoding →
Baoding is a prefecture-level city in central Hebei, south-west of Beijing, which served as the capital of Zhili province under the Qing and of Hebei…