Lake Tai (Taihu) is one of the largest freshwater lakes in China, a shallow basin of more than 2,000 km² in the Yangtze Delta shared by Jiangsu and Zhejiang. Its shores hold Wuxi and Suzhou, its hills and islands have fed the delta with fish, tea and fruit for two thousand years, and its water-worn limestone gave Chinese gardens their scholar's rocks.
- National scenic area · 1982
Key facts
Overview
Taihu lies almost exactly between Shanghai, Suzhou, Wuxi, Changzhou and Huzhou, and the whole culture of the lower Yangtze — the region called Jiangnan, south of the river — grew up around it. The lake is broad and shallow, dotted with some fifty islands, and ringed by low hills that drop into it as peninsulas.
For most of history the lake has been a working landscape: its waters irrigate the richest rice and silk country in China, its fishermen sailed seven-masted junks, and its shores produced Biluochun tea and loquats. Since the late twentieth century it has also become a test case for pollution control, after nutrient-rich run-off caused recurring algal blooms.
How the landscape formed
Geologists still debate the lake's origin. Most see it as a depression on the delta plain, gradually enclosed as the Yangtze and Qiantang built out their deltas and the coast moved eastwards; others have proposed a meteorite impact, which is not generally accepted. The lake is remarkably shallow, averaging about two metres deep. The hills around it are outliers of the Tianmu ranges, made largely of limestone and sandstone. Limestone boulders from the lake bed and the Dongting Xishan shore, dissolved into holes and hollows by water, are the famous Taihu stones.
Highlights
Turtle Head Isle
鼋头渚
A peninsula on the Wuxi shore shaped like a turtle's head, with gardens, pavilions and a celebrated cherry-blossom season.
Dongshan
东山
A peninsula south-west of Suzhou with Ming and Qing merchant houses, orchards and the Zijin Nunnery with its painted clay arhats.
Xishan (Jinting)
西山
The largest island in the lake, linked to the shore by bridges, with old villages such as Mingyuewan and tea and fruit terraces.
Li Garden
蠡园
Waterside garden in Wuxi named after Fan Li, the statesman who by legend sailed off across the lake with Xi Shi.
Taihu stones
太湖石
Perforated limestone rocks prized as garden centrepieces; the finest stand in the classical gardens of Suzhou.
Plants and wildlife
The lake is a eutrophic shallow-water system. Intensive farming, industry and dense settlement raised nutrient levels in the late twentieth century, and cyanobacterial blooms became frequent in summer; a severe bloom in 2007 cut Wuxi's drinking water supply for several days and led to a long programme of clean-up, dredging and restrictions on polluting industry. The lake remains an important fishery and wintering ground for waterbirds.
Plants
Reed beds
芦苇
Reeds line the shallow bays and are being restored as natural filters.
Biluochun tea
碧螺春
A tightly curled green tea grown among fruit trees on the Dongting hills of Dongshan and Xishan.
Wildlife
The Three Whites of Taihu
太湖三白
The white fish (topmouth culter), white shrimp and icefish that are the lake's classic catch.
Hairy crab
大闸蟹
Chinese mitten crabs raised in the lake and the neighbouring waters, eaten in autumn.
Culture and legend
In the Spring and Autumn period the lake lay between the rival states of Wu and Yue, and its legends — Fan Li and Xi Shi, the Wu king Fuchai — come from that war. Later it became the setting of Jiangnan literati life: garden-building in Suzhou and Wuxi drew on its stones, and its villages and waterside towns produced merchants, scholars and silk. The Taihu stone became so desirable that the Song emperor Huizong had them shipped to Kaifeng in great convoys.
Zijin Nunnery
紫金庵
A small temple on Dongshan with sixteen painted clay arhats attributed to Song-dynasty sculptors.
Mingyuewan village
明月湾
An old lakeside village on Xishan with stone-paved lanes and a camphor tree said to be more than a thousand years old.
Lingshan Grand Buddha
灵山大佛
A large bronze standing Buddha completed in 1997 on the Mashan peninsula near Wuxi.
History
5th century BCE
War between Wu and Yue
The lake and its shores become the stage for the rivalry of the two states and its lasting legends.
Song dynasty (960–1279)
Taihu stones sent to the capital
Emperor Huizong's rock convoys make the lake's stones the model for garden rockery across China.
Ming and Qing dynasties
Dongting merchants
Traders from the Dongshan and Xishan hills become one of the leading merchant networks of Jiangnan.
1982
National scenic area
Listed among the first national key scenic areas.
2007
Wuxi algal bloom
A cyanobacterial bloom disrupts the city's water supply and triggers a long clean-up of the lake.
Through the seasons
Spring
Cherry and plum blossom at Turtle Head Isle and on the peninsulas; Biluochun tea is picked from March.
Summer
Hot and humid, with thunderstorms; the Taihu icefish and white shrimp season and the lotus on the shallow bays.
Autumn
Clear weather, orange and pomegranate harvests on the islands and the hairy crab season.
Winter
Cool and damp; winter birds on the lake and plum blossom on the hills from February.
Routes and ways in
Wuxi shore
Turtle Head Isle, Li Garden and the Lingshan peninsula can be combined in a day from Wuxi.
Dongshan and Xishan
The two Dongting peninsulas south-west of Suzhou, with villages, orchards and the causeway-bridges to Xishan, are best explored by car or bicycle over one or two days.
Lakeshore cycling
Dedicated cycle paths run along long stretches of the Suzhou and Wuxi shoreline.
Practical notes
- The lake is too large to see as a single place; choose one shore, usually Wuxi or the Suzhou peninsulas.
- Summer algal blooms can make the water unpleasant near some shores; swimming is not generally permitted.
- The Zhejiang shore around Huzhou is quieter and less visited than the Jiangsu side.
Cities to start from
Frequently asked questions
Sources
- Wuxi Municipal People's Government — Wuxi Municipal People's Government (retrieved 27 September 2026)
- Tai Lake — Encyclopaedia Britannica (retrieved 27 September 2026)
- Taihu Basin Authority of the Ministry of Water Resources — Taihu Basin Authority (retrieved 27 September 2026)
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