Qiandao Lake (Thousand Island Lake)

Reservoir Lake Created By The Xinanjiang Dam; National 5A Tourist Attraction · Chun'an, Zhejiang

A vast, island-studded reservoir in the green hills of western Zhejiang, created in 1959 when the Xin'anjiang Dam flooded a mountain valley and turned more than a thousand hilltops into forested islands. Its clear water is so clean that it supplies one of China's best-known bottled water brands and much of Hangzhou's drinking water, and the lake covers some 573 square kilometres of winding bays. Beneath the surface lie the drowned towns of the old counties of Chun'an and Sui'an, including Shicheng, the so-called Lion City, whose Ming and Qing gateways, walls and carved archways were rediscovered by divers in 2001 and remain remarkably intact under about thirty metres of water. Visitors explore by boat from the pier in Qiandaohu town, stopping at islands in the Central Lake District such as Meifeng Island, whose hilltop platform looks over a maze of islets, and islands dedicated to the upright Ming official Hai Rui, who once served as magistrate here, to locks of love and to fishing culture. Around the shore a long cycling greenway, lakeside resorts and fish-head restaurants serving the lake's famous organic silver carp make it a popular weekend escape from Hangzhou, now under an hour away by high-speed train.

Central Lake District Tourist Pier, Qiandaohu Town, Chun'an County, Hangzhou, Chun'an, Zhejiang, China

Boats depart the Central Lake pier from morning to early afternoon at scheduled times (for example 9:15, 10:45, 13:15); book ahead. Lakeside greenway and shore open daily.

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