The Dian Lake, also named Kunming Lake or Kunming Pool is a big lake in the Province ofYunnan in China. Regarded as the “Pearl on Plateau”, the Dian Lake is the center of the Kunming scenic site.
The Dian Lake is in the southwest of Kunming along with West Mountain tothe west of the lake, it is also a famous travelling destination. Formed by tectonic depressionPanlongriver was created. The lake is 1886 meters, covering an area of 330 square kilometers. The average depth is 5 meters and the deepest part can reach 8 meters. The lake’s water flowing out at the southwest estuario is called Mantis Mountain. The Dian Lake is the six biggest inland fresh lake. To take precaution against flood and ensure there is water for agriculture irrigation and daily life, some dams and reservoirs have been built. In the lake you can see many kinds of beautiful fish.
The Dian Lake was one of the earliest places to be developedand it is where the tribes called “Dian” or “Dianji” lived.The general in the warring states period entered into this area and founded the Dian Country. During the Western Han Dynasty, Hanwu Emperor installed Yizhou County. In the 1276 A.D. the Yunnan Province was built and the Chiya City was changed into Kunming, which is now the capital of Yunnan Province.
The landscape of the Dian Lake is quite beautiful. The lake surface is broad with numerous sails on it. The view of the lake and mountains is gorgeous as well as charming. Surrounding the lake thereis Yunnan ethic country, Yunnan ethic museum, Hualiang Temple, Taihua Temple, Hall of Pure Trinity, Dragon Gate, Zhuzu Temple, Grand View Pavilion, Panlong Temple and Zhenghe Park and other scenic spots. There is cableway connecting the ethic country and West Mountain Park, which offers both convenient traffic and perfect place to view the Dian Lake. The Dian Lake is national level holiday resort, which accounts for 18 square kilometers, separated into ten functional areas. Now it has become increasingly tremendous and it will turn into world’s vocation resort with unique ethnic features and cultures.
The Dian Lake Attractions
Temple of Magnificent Pavilion
The Dian Lake Story
1. The Legend of the Dian Lake
A Long time ago the Kunming area was dry land. There was a handsome hunter who left his wife and went to East Lake to get water. At the seashore, he saw an eagle that held a small red fish in its mouth. Immediately the hunter shot the eagle and saved the fish. Later it turned out the fish was the third princess of Dragon King. She fell in love with the hunter and wanted to marry him. However, the hunter missed his wife so much, so when Dragon King is out, he swallowed lot of fresh water and went back to Kunming. His wife was dead for missing him too badly and turned into the Sleeping Beauty Mountain. The hunter was sad, so he spat out the fresh water and killed the mountain. The fresh water is in the Dian Lake today.
Guanyin Mountain was originally named Shizui Mountain. It is said that at the beginning of Ming Dynasty, the farmers in theJinning County found a Guanyin bronze statue. They wanted to transfer theGuanyin statue to Jinningvia the water. However, when the ship came near the waters around the Shizui Mountain it suddenly began to rain. The ship had to wait until the wave calmed down. When the ship finally restarted, the wave appeared again. People had to put theGuanyin statue into the local temple to worship. As soon as theGuanyin Statue was installed, the waves calmed down and the sky was bright. Then people totally understood that Guanyin had chosen the mountain and was not willing to go on. Therefore, according to the will of the Guanyin, people built a Guanyin temple here. From then on, the mountain has been named Guanyin Mountain.
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