Lake · Hunan
Dongting Lake
洞庭湖
The flood basin of the middle Yangtze that gave Hunan and Hubei their names
Dongting Lake in northern Hunan is China's second-largest freshwater lake, a shallow flood basin that swells in summer with water from the Xiang, Zi, Yuan and Li rivers and from the Yangtze, and shrinks in winter to channels and vast grassy mudflats. Its wetlands are a wintering ground for cranes, geese and swans, and East Dongting Lake has been a Ramsar site since 1992; Hunan (“south of the lake”) and Hubei (“north of the lake”) are named after it.
- Ramsar site (East Dongting Lake) · 1992
- Ramsar sites (West and South Dongting Lake) · 2002
- National nature reserve (East Dongting Lake)
Key facts
- Rank
- China's second-largest freshwater lake
- Inflows
- Xiang, Zi, Yuan and Li rivers; Yangtze channels
- Outflow
- Yangtze at Chenglingji
- Ramsar site
- East Dongting Lake, 1992[1]
- Location
- Yueyang, Yiyang and Changde, Hunan
Overview
Dongting is less a fixed lake than a system of lakes, channels and seasonal wetlands between the Yangtze and the hills of central Hunan. In the summer flood season it spreads into one broad sheet of water; in winter it withdraws into East, South and West Dongting and a web of channels, exposing marshes and grassland on which hundreds of thousands of migratory birds feed. The lake drains into the Yangtze at Chenglingji, near Yueyang.
The lake has been central to the culture of the region for more than two thousand years. It is the setting of the Chu poems attributed to Qu Yuan, of the legend of the two consorts of Emperor Shun, and of some of the most famous poetry written in Chinese, much of it composed on the Yueyang Tower overlooking the water.
How the landscape formed
Dongting occupies a subsiding basin in the middle Yangtze plain, a remnant of the larger wetlands known in antiquity as the Yunmeng Marsh. Four Hunan rivers — the Xiang, Zi, Yuan and Li — flow in from the south and west, while channels from the Yangtze bring floodwater and sediment from the north. Sediment and centuries of land reclamation for polders have greatly reduced the lake's area since the nineteenth century. Because water levels rise and fall by many metres between seasons, its area varies more than that of almost any other large lake in China, and changes on the Yangtze, including the Three Gorges Dam, affect how early and how far it drains each year.
Highlights
Yueyang Tower
岳阳楼
The three-storey wooden tower on the city wall of Yueyang overlooking the lake, one of the Three Great Towers of south China; the present building dates from the Qing dynasty.
Junshan Island
君山岛
A small wooded island in the lake with the tombs of the Xiang consorts, spotted bamboo and tea gardens.
East Dongting Lake
东洞庭湖
The largest and most important part of the lake for birds, a national nature reserve with winter mudflats and sedge meadows.
Chenglingji
城陵矶
The outlet where the lake meets the Yangtze, also Hunan's river port.
West Dongting Lake
西洞庭湖
Reed beds and wetlands in Hanshou county on the western side of the lake.
Plants and wildlife
Dongting is one of the most important wintering sites on the East Asian–Australasian Flyway. When the water falls in autumn, the exposed sedge meadows and mudflats feed geese, ducks, cranes and storks from Siberia and northern China. The lake is also a stronghold of the Yangtze finless porpoise, now protected by the ten-year fishing ban on the Yangtze basin introduced in 2021.
Plants
Reeds
芦苇
Extensive reed beds on the lake margins, long harvested for paper and matting.
Sedge meadows
苔草
Carex meadows that grow on the exposed lake bed in winter and feed grazing geese.
Spotted bamboo
斑竹
Bamboo with brown markings, said in legend to be stained by the tears of the Xiang consorts.
Wildlife
Yangtze finless porpoise
长江江豚
A critically endangered freshwater porpoise with a population in the lake and its outlet.
Lesser white-fronted goose
小白额雁
A threatened goose for which Dongting is one of the main wintering grounds in the world.
Siberian crane
白鹤
Critically endangered white crane that winters in small numbers on the lake.
Père David's deer
麋鹿
Extinct in the wild in China until reintroduced; a free-living herd has established itself in the Dongting wetlands.
Culture and legend
The lake lies at the heart of the ancient state of Chu. Legend says that when Emperor Shun died on a tour of the south, his two consorts, Ehuang and Nüying, wept on the shore until their tears spotted the bamboo, then drowned in the Xiang and became its goddesses. Qu Yuan's “Nine Songs” invoke these spirits of the Xiang. In the Song dynasty Fan Zhongyan wrote the “Record of Yueyang Tower” (岳阳楼记) on the rebuilding of the tower, with its famous ideal of the official who is “first to worry about the world's troubles and last to enjoy its pleasures”.
昔闻洞庭水，今上岳阳楼。吴楚东南坼，乾坤日夜浮。Xī wén Dòngtíng shuǐ, jīn shàng Yuèyáng Lóu. Wú Chǔ dōngnán chè, qiánkūn rì yè fú.
“Long ago I heard of Dongting's waters; today I climb Yueyang Tower. Wu and Chu split apart to the south-east; heaven and earth float on it day and night.”
— Du Fu, “Climbing Yueyang Tower” (登岳阳楼), 768
The Xiang consorts
湘妃
Ehuang and Nüying, daughters of Emperor Yao and wives of Shun, venerated as goddesses of the Xiang and the lake.
Record of Yueyang Tower
岳阳楼记
Fan Zhongyan's essay of 1046, learnt by generations of Chinese schoolchildren.
Junshan Silver Needle
君山银针
A rare yellow tea from Junshan Island, made from buds that stand upright in the cup.
Liu Yi delivers the letter
柳毅传书
A Tang tale of a scholar who carried a message to the Dragon King of Dongting; a well on Junshan is tied to the story.
History
Warring States period
The lake at the centre of Chu
Dongting appears in the Chu poetry attributed to Qu Yuan and in early geographic texts.
716
Tower built at Yueyang
The Tang governor Zhang Yue builds the tower later known as Yueyang Tower on the site of an older lookout.
1046
Fan Zhongyan writes the Record of Yueyang Tower
The essay fixes the tower and the lake in the Chinese literary canon.
19th–20th centuries
Silting and reclamation
Sediment and polder building shrink the lake, which loses its place as China's largest freshwater lake to Poyang.
1992
East Dongting Lake listed as a Ramsar site
Among the first wetlands of international importance designated in China.
2021
Ten-year fishing ban on the Yangtze
Commercial fishing stops in the lake as part of the basin-wide ban to restore fish stocks and protect the porpoise.
Through the seasons
Spring
Water begins to rise and the meadows turn green; the wintering birds leave in March.
Summer
The flood season, when the lake reaches its greatest extent; hot and humid, and the time for views of open water from Yueyang Tower.
Autumn
Water falls and mudflats emerge; the first geese and cranes arrive in October.
Winter
The best season for birdwatching, with large flocks on the exposed wetlands of East Dongting; cold, damp winds off the water.
Routes and ways in
Yueyang lakeside
The Yueyang Tower precinct and the promenade along the lake shore in the old city, an easy half-day on foot.
Junshan Island
Reached by boat or by the causeway road; paths loop past the consorts' tombs, tea gardens and the Liu Yi well.
East Dongting birdwatching
Observation points and hides on the reserve's margins give views over the winter wetlands; the reserve organises birdwatching events in winter.
Practical notes
- The lake looks very different by season: open water in summer, grassland and channels in winter.
- Binoculars or a telescope are essential for birdwatching, as flocks keep well away from the shore.
- Parts of the nature reserves are closed to protect the birds in winter; follow the reserve's rules and marked access points.
- Yueyang, on the high-speed line between Wuhan and Changsha, is the natural base; Changsha lies to the south.
Cities to start from
Frequently asked questions
Sources
- Ramsar Sites Information Service — Ramsar Convention Secretariat (retrieved 27 September 2026)
- Dongting Lake — Encyclopaedia Britannica (retrieved 27 September 2026)
- Yueyang Municipal People's Government — Yueyang Municipal People's Government (retrieved 27 September 2026)
- Hunan Provincial People's Government — Hunan Provincial People's Government (retrieved 27 September 2026)
More mountains and nature in Hunan
- MountainMount Lang崀山Red sandstone domes, slot canyons and the Fuyi river on the Hunan–Guangxi border
- Sacred mountain · 1,300 mMount Heng (Southern)衡山The Southern Peak of the Five Great Mountains, sacred to Daoists and Buddhists alike
- Karst landscapeWulingyuan武陵源A forest of more than 3,000 sandstone pillars in the Wuling mountains
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