Atlas
Dongting Lake
Eight hundred li of Dongting in misty vastness — the remnant of the ancient Yunmeng Marsh, powering the miracle 'when Huguang ripens, all under heaven is fed'.
Prefecture: Yueyang
Province: HunanDongting Lake stretches beyond a sweeping reed bed, its gentle ripples catching warm dawn light as low wooded hills and islands fade into mist.
Tower1
- Yueyang Tower
One of the Three Great Towers of Jiangnan, renowned for Fan Zhongyan's essay on civic devotion.
Vista2
- Junshan Island in Lake Dongting
A lush island in the middle of Lake Dongting, cradle of the Spotted Bamboo legend and Junshan Yinzhen tea.
- East Dongting Lake Wetland Reserve
A vital Ramsar wetland home to Yangtze finless porpoises, wild Pere David's deer, and tens of thousands of migratory waterfowl.
Temple1
- Quzi Ancestral Shrine in Miluo
The national memorial temple dedicated to poet Qu Yuan on the banks where he composed his immortal elegies.
Depicts1
- Songs of Chu: Lady of the Xiang RiverClassical PoetryQu Yuan
The divine daughter descends upon the northern islet, gazing far away my heart is filled with sorrow. Gently sighs the autumn breeze; waves ripple across Dongting Lake as trees shed their leaves.
On its attractions1
- Memorial on Yueyang TowerClassical ProseYueyang TowerFan Zhongyan
Not swayed by worldly fortune, nor mourning personal grief. First in bearing hardships before all under heaven, last in partaking joy after all under heaven.
Authors2
- Qu Yuanc. 340 BCE–c. 278 BCE
Wrote of Dongting Lake in “Songs of Chu: Lady of the Xiang River”; Part of Dongting Lake's history: Qu Yuan's Sacrifice. Chu aristocrat and minister under King Huai who, slandered and exiled, drowned himself in the Miluo River; the Li Sao is attributed to him
- Fan Zhongyan989–1052 CE
Wrote of Yueyang Tower in “Memorial on Yueyang Tower”; Part of Dongting Lake's history: Qingli Reforms of Fan Zhongyan. Northern Song statesman who led the Qingli reforms, organised the defence of Shaanxi against the Xi Xia, and wrote the Record of Yueyang Tower
In its history2
- Zhao Zhen1010–1063 CE
Part of Dongting Lake's history: Qingli Reforms of Fan Zhongyan. Fourth Northern Song emperor, whose long reign from 1022 saw the first state-issued paper money, war with the Western Xia and Fan Zhongyan's Qingli reforms
- King Huai of ChuBirth unknown–296 BCE (r. 328–299 BCE)
Part of Dongting Lake's history: Qu Yuan's Sacrifice. King of Chu who broke with Qi on Zhang Yi's false promise of land, lost Hanzhong to Qin, and died a captive in Qin after the meeting at Wu Pass
Zhou2
- Qu Yuan's Sacrifice
After Qin captured Ying, Qu Yuan drowned himself in the Miluo River; works such as Li Sao became central to the Chu Ci tradition.
- Qu Yuan Dies in the Miluo278 BCE
In 278 BCE, Qu Yuan drowned himself in the Miluo River; works such as Li Sao remain associated with his literary legacy.
Song2
- Qingli Reforms of Fan Zhongyan
Fan Zhongyan's Qingli program assessed officials, limited inherited privilege, and expanded schools before conservative opposition brought it to an early end.
- Fan Zhongyan's Yueyang Tower EssayNorthern Song (1046 CE)
In 1046, at Teng Zijing's request, Fan Zhongyan wrote the Yueyang Tower Essay, framing public responsibility through the ethic of concern before enjoyment.
Xia1
- Shun and the Xiangfei Bamboo LegendAncient legendary period
In ancient tradition, Shun died during a southern tour and the tears of Ehuang and Nüying stained bamboo, forming the Xiangfei-bamboo and Junshan traditions.