located in Jiangxi Province is the largest freshwater
Fresh water is naturally occurring water on the Earth's surface in ice sheets, ice caps, glaciers, bogs, ponds, lakes, rivers and streams, and underground as groundwater in aquifers and underground streams. Fresh water is generally characterized by having low concentrations of dissolved salts and...
A lake is a body of relatively still fresh or salt water of considerable size, localized in a basin, that is surrounded by land. Lakes are inland and not part of the ocean and therefore are distinct from lagoons, and are larger and deeper than ponds. Lakes can be contrasted with rivers or streams,...
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
It has a surface area of 3,585 km², a volume of 25 km³ and an average depth of eight meters. The lake provides a habitat for half a million migratory birds, and is a favorite destination for birding. It is fed by the Gan, Xin, and Xiu
Xiu is a Chinese language web site for online shopping, operated in the People's Republic of China.Founded by Mr. Ji Wenhong and Mr. Jin Huang in March 2008, it's a vertical e-commerce company, offering middle to luxury brand name fashion products - clothing, shoes, bags, ornaments, cosmetics and...
rivers, which connect to the Yangtse through a channel.
During the winter, the lake becomes home to a large number of migrating Siberian crane
The Siberian Crane also known as the Siberian White Crane or the Snow Crane, is a bird of the family Gruidae, the cranes...
s, up to 90% of which spend the winter there.
Historically, although Poyang Lake has also been called Pengli Marsh (彭蠡澤) they are not the same. Before the Han Dynasty
The Han Dynasty was the second imperial dynasty of China, preceded by the Qin Dynasty and succeeded by the Three Kingdoms . It was founded by the rebel leader Liu Bang, known posthumously as Emperor Gaozu of Han. It was briefly interrupted by the Xin Dynasty of the former regent Wang Mang...
, the Yangtze followed a more northerly course through what is now Lake Longgan (龍感湖) whilst Pengli Marsh formed the lower reaches of the Gan River. The area that is now Poyang Lake was a plain along the Gan River. Around AD 400, the Yangtze River switched to a more southerly course, causing the Gan River to back up and form Lake Poyang. The backing up of the Gan River drowned Poyang County
Poyang County is a county under the administration of Shangrao city in Jiangxi Province of the People's Republic of China. It is located on the eastern side of Lake Poyang....
and Haihun County, forcing a mass migration to Wucheng Township in what is now Yongxiu County
Yongxiu County is a county under Jiujiang City in Jiangxi Province, China. The total area is square kilometre, and the population is as of 200?.-External links:...
. Wucheng thus became one of the great ancient townships of Jiangxi Province. This migration gave birth to the phrase, "Drowning Haihun County gives rise to Wucheng Township"「淹了海昏縣，出了吳城鎮」.
Lake Poyang reached its greatest size during the Tang Dynasty
The Tang Dynasty was an imperial dynasty of China preceded by the Sui Dynasty and followed by the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period. It was founded by the Li family, who seized power during the decline and collapse of the Sui Empire...
, when its area reached 6000 km².
There has been a fishing ban in place since 2002.
In 2007 fears were expressed that China's finless porpoise
The finless porpoise is one of six porpoise species. In the waters around Japan, at the northern end of its range, it is known as the sunameri . A freshwater population found in the Yangtze River in China is known locally as the jiangzhu or "river pig". There is a degree of taxonomic uncertainty...
, known locally as the jiangzhu
("river pig"), a native of the lake, might follow the baiji
Baiji may refer to:* The Baiji or Yangtze River Dolphin * Baiji, Iraq, a city of northern Iraq.* "Baiji" is the pinyin Romanization for Baekje....
, the Yangtze river dolphin, into extinction.
Calls have been made for action to be taken to save the porpoise, of which there are about 1,400 left living, with between 700 and 900 in the Yangtze, with about another 500 in Poyang and Dongting Lakes.
2007 population levels are less than half the 1997 levels, and the population is dropping at a rate of 7.3 per cent per year.
Sand dredging has become a mainstay of local economic development in the last few years, and is an important source of revenue in the region that borders Poyang Lake. But at the same time, high-density dredging projects have been the principal cause of the death of the local wildlife population.
Dredging makes the waters of the lake muddier, and the porpoises cannot see as far as they once could, and have to rely on their highly-developed sonar systems to avoid obstacles and look for food. Large ships enter and leave the lake at the rate of two a minute and such a high density of shipping means the porpoises have difficulty hearing their food, and also cannot swim freely from one bank to the other.
In 1363, the Battle of Lake Poyang
The naval battle of Lake Poyang took place 30 August – 4 October AD 1363 and was one of the final battles fought in the fall of China's Mongol-led Yuan Dynasty...
took place there, and it is claimed to be the largest naval battle in history
The title of "largest naval battle in history" is disputed between adherents of criteria which include the numbers of personnel and/or vessels involved in the battle, and the total tonnage of the vessels involved...
The lake has also been described as the "Chinese Bermuda Triangle". Many ships have disappeared while sailing in it.
On 16 April 1945, a Japanese troop ship vanished without a trace with 200 sailors.