Suya Lake

Construction of Suya Lake began in 1958. The earthen dyke running north to south along the eastern bank stretches 35.29 kilometres, with a height of 58 metres. The wave wall on top is 0.5 metres high, and the dyke crest is 4 to 7 metres wide. The reservoir retains upstream water from Banqiao Reservoir, Boshan Reservoir and other water projects. Its water storage area covers 239 square kilometres, with a permanent water surface of 110,000 mu. More than 30 species of fish live here, among which common carp, crucian carp and silver carp have the largest output.

Suya Lake is now the largest plain man-made reservoir in Asia, earning it the reputation of "Man-made Dongting Lake". As a poem puts it: A hundred-li dyke tames the flood; ten thousand wild ducks play among the fish. The north-south dyke on the eastern shore runs for 35 kilometres. The lake reaches a maximum width of 15 kilometres. It controls a watershed of 4,715 square kilometres, covers a reservoir area of 239 square kilometres (350,000 mu of land), and holds a total storage capacity of 820 million cubic metres.

On the western bank lie 60,000 mu of woodland and 10,000 mu of reed marshes. Tens of thousands of poplars and willows line the encircling dyke. The scenery rivals that of regions south of the Yangtze River. The site has applied to become a provincial-level wetland nature reserve.

According to local legend, there was no lake here in ancient times. Instead, it was a crisscross of river channels prone to severe floods year after year, where wild animals roamed freely.

Years later, an imperial prince of the Yuan Dynasty was enfeoffed in Runan. Cruel by nature and fond of riding and archery, he led his bodyguards out of the city on a tour in spring. Delighted to see abundant birds and beasts, he drew his bow and shot a fox. The wounded fox fled with the arrow stuck in its body.

The prince chased it relentlessly until a village blocked his view. Furious, he ordered the land to be enclosed as an imperial hunting ground by horseback riding. Signboards marked "Imperial Hunting Ground – No Entry" were erected across an area stretching forty to fifty li. All villages within the zone were demolished, and residents were ordered to move out within a time limit; anyone who defied the order would have their entire family executed.

For more than 300 years, from that time until the fall of the Ming Dynasty, this place remained the exclusive imperial hunting ground of the princes of Runan.

Locals bitterly named it "Official Slope". Neglected river courses led to repeated flooding, turning the whole area into a vast expanse of water every summer. Flocks of wild ducks and waterfowl came here to settle and breed, turning the slope into a paradise for water birds.

Thus the place was renamed Suya Lake, meaning "Lake of Roosting Ducks". Towards the end of the Ming Dynasty, Li Zicheng, leader of the peasant uprising, besieged Runan City with 400,000 troops and captured the prince. The Prince Yan Temple was burned down in what history records as the Battle of Runing Prefecture. Only then was this land returned to ordinary people.