Dianchi Lake, Kunming

Overview

About

Dianchi lies south-west of Kunming, Yunnan, 300 km², China’s sixth largest freshwater lake, ringed by Jinma, Biji, Heshan and Sheshan hills on the east, west, south and north.

The Daguan Tower on the north shore bears the famous 180-character couplet by the Qing poet Sun Ran.

The Western Hills west of the city are shaped like a sleeping beauty.

It is in the second batch of national parks of China (national scenic areas) named by the State Council in 1988.

Travel tips

Getting there: Kunming Changshui airport, Kunming station and Kunming South station all link to the city. The lake lies south of the city centre; buses reach Daguan Tower and Haigeng, and the Western Hills rise on the west shore.

Daguan Tower: on the north shore in Daguan Park, with Sun Ranweng's long couplet; it is close to the city and takes half a day.

Western Hills: on the west shore, reached by road to the Dragon Gate and Sanqing Pavilion area, with views over the whole lake; the Dragon Gate stretch is steep, with many steps.

Haigeng and the gulls: Haigeng dam is the place to watch black-headed gulls, which winter here in large numbers from November to March.

Around the lake: there are greenways and wetland parks along the shore for walking or cycling; the shoreline is long, so choose one or two stretches.

Time: half a day for Daguan Tower and Haigeng; a day to add the Western Hills.

Season: Kunming is spring-like all year; winter is the time for the gulls; summer is rainy.

Where to stay: stay in Kunming; every sight is within easy reach.

In literature

Sun Ran’s couplet at the Daguan Tower: “Five hundred li of Dianchi rush before my eyes; I open my robe and push back my cap, glad of the boundless expanse. See the divine steed galloping in the east, the sacred bird soaring in the west, the winding serpent in the north, the white crane in the south. Why should poets and men of taste not climb here? Take the crab isles and snail shoals, dressed in wind-blown hair and misty locks; the duckweed sky and reed earth, set off with kingfisher plumes and rosy clouds. Do not waste the fragrant rice all around, the ten thousand acres of sunlit sand, the lotus of high summer, the willows of spring.” / “Thousands of years of the past pour into the heart; I raise my cup to the void and sigh: where are the heroes who rolled past? Think of the Han drilling tower-ships, the Tang raising the iron pillar, the Song waving the jade axe, the Yuan crossing on leather rafts. Great deeds and mighty merits spent the strength to move mountains; the pearl curtains and painted beams could not outlast the evening rain and morning cloud; the broken stelae and ruined tablets are all given to grey mist and sunset. All that remains: a few strokes of a distant bell, half a river of fishing lights, two lines of autumn geese, a pillow of clear frost.”