| Hongze Lake | |
|---|---|
| Hungtze Hu, Hung-tse Hu | |
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  Hongze Lake | |
| Location | Jiangsu Province |
| Coordinates | 33°18′27″N118°42′36″E / 33.30750°N 118.71000°E /33.30750; 118.71000 |
| Primary inflows | Huai River Si River,Yellow River (historically) |
| Primary outflows | Huai River |
| Basin countries | China |
| Hongze Lake | |||||||||
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 Fishing on Hongze Lake (1962) | |||||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 洪澤湖 | ||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 洪泽湖 | ||||||||
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| Fuling Lakes (antiquity) | |||||||||
| Chinese | 富陵湖 | ||||||||
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| Pofu Pond (Han–Sui) | |||||||||
| Chinese | 破釜塘 | ||||||||
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| Hongze Pond (Sui–Tang) | |||||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 洪澤塘 | ||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 洪泽塘 | ||||||||
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Hongze Lake,previously known asLake Hungtze orHung-tse, is thefifth-largest freshwater lake inChina. Although it is known to have existed from antiquity, it drastically increased in size during theQing when theYellow River—then still flowing south ofShandong—merged with theHuai. The increased sediment and flow combined to greatly expand the lake, swallowing the previous regional center ofSizhou and theMing Zuling tombs. During theimperial andrepublican periods, the lake formed part of the border betweenJiangsu andAnhuiprovinces but since 1955 the previous borders have been shifted to place it entirely under Jiangsu's administration. It is now encompassed by thecounties ofSihong andSiyang inSuqian Prefecture andXuyi andHongze inHuai'an Prefecture. Since the establishment of thePeople's Republic of China, the lake has generally decreased in size as more of its inflow has been diverted forirrigation.
Hongze Lake reaches an area of about 3 millionmu when its depth reaches 12.5 meters (41 ft),[1] making it the second-largest freshwater lake in Jiangsu[1] and the fourth-[2] or fifth-largest in the country,[1] behindlakes Poyang,Dongting,Tai, andHulun. Hongze Lake's meandering shoreline usually runs around 365 kilometers (227 mi).[1]
The area that now forms Hongze Lake was an inlet of theEast China Sea about 2 million year ago before being closed in by sediment from theHuai and other nearby rivers.[1] InChinese antiquity, the area formed a number of shallow lakes collectively known as Fuling.[2] Other nearby lakes at the time that later merged into Hongze were Nidun and Wanjia.[2] ThehegemonFuchai ofWu constructed the Han orHangou Canal(t邗溝,s邗沟,Hángōu), connecting the lake system withYangzhou and theYangtze Delta in 486 BC to improve the supply lines of his army in conflicts withQi.
Under theHan, Fuling was renamed Pofu Pond.[2] Acting as part ofLü Bu's faction, theGuangling administratorChen Deng completed the first part of theGaojia Weir(高家堰,Gāojiāyàn) around the yearJian'an 5 (aroundAD 200), a massive 30-liembankment intended to protect nearby farmland and the Hangou Canal and nearby settlements and farmland from floods of the Huai.[3][4]
Under theSui, the Hangou Canal and lake were connected to other waterways north and south to create theGrand Canal. During an inspection tour in 616,Emperor Yang renamed Pofu Hongze in his delight at the rain that greeted his arrival there, the rest of the countryside having suffered a drought.[1] When it further expanded under theTang, it became known as Hongze Lake.[1][2] A massive flood of theYellow Riverredirected it south ofShandong in 1128 or 1194,following the course of theSi to join the Huai belowHuaiyin.[2] The silt from the Yellow River began to obstruct the flow of the Huai andstarted to expand Hongze still farther,[2] ultimately quadrupling its original size.[citation needed] During this period, it became an important fishery and center of irrigated cropland.[2] It still forms the origin point of theNorth Jiangsu Main Irrigation Canal. Under theYuan, the course of the Grand Canal in the area was straightened to circumvent the lake.
Under theHongwu Emperor, the firstemperor of theMingdynasty, theMing Zulinggarment tomb was built near the regional centerSizhou tohonor his ancestors, whom he posthumously elevated to imperial status.[5] Under his son theYongle Emperor, the Gaojia Weir was further expanded,[4] in part to protect the site. InWanli 7 (c. 1579),Pan Jixun enlarged and reinforced the weir with stone along its then 40 to 42 kilometers (25 to 26 mi) of length.[6][4] His mismanagement of the area's difficult hydrology allowed Sizhou to flood and threatened the tombs, leading to his demotion and dismissal.
By theQing, the Yellow River had built up enough silt that itchanged course again to merge with earlier tributaries of the Huai. InKangxi 16 (c. 1677), theviceroy of riversJin Fu(t靳輔,s靳辅,Jìn Fǔ, 1633–1692) extended the embankments fromZhouqiao toJiangba(t蔣壩,s蒋坝,Jiǎngbà).[6] A few years later in 1680, the increased silting produced enlarged Hongze Lake so much that it entirely consumed Sizhou and the Ming Zuling.[5] TheKangxi andQianlong Emperors continued the expansion and reinforcement of the Gaojia Weir, reaching 67–70 kilometers (42–43 mi) and completing the modern Hongze Lake Embankment.[4] Altogether, fromWanli 3 (c. 1575) toXianfeng 5 (c. 1855), the Gaojia Weir and Hongze Embankment burst 140 times, involving breaches in 300 different sections.[6] During the worst breaches, the lake level fell as much as 10 meters (33 ft).[6] On one occasion in the 19th century, theDaoguang Emperor held theJiangnanriver supervisorZhang Wenhao(t張文浩,s张文浩,Zhāng Wénhào, d. 1836) in chains at the repair site for a month during repairs necessitated by his mismanagement of when the dams need to be closed and opened; he was then dismissed to serve in theXinjiang border guards.[6] For their part, local people made prayers and offerings to ninedragons(九龍,jiǔ lóng) near Zhouqiao for protection; thetemple was lost in a flood.[6] In the early 1850s, the massive floods of the Yellow River that occasioned theTaiping Rebellion restored the Yellow River entirely to its northern course, finally removing its inflow and siltation from the lake.
Under thePeople's Republic of China, counties in Anhui that bordered the lake were ceded to Jiangsu in 1955 to allow unified administration of the lake. By the early 1960s, its water level had dropped enough that the stone statues of the Ming Zuling'ssacred way were again visible along the shoreline. After the end of theCultural Revolution, the provincial and national cultural preservation authorities excavated and restored the tombs, ultimately erecting a new 2,700 meters (1.7 mi)embankment to protect it from any further flooding.[5] In 1966, 1976, and 1985, the Hongze Embankment itself was reinforced and improved with more modern engineering and materials, particularly with additional barriers to break up the force of the rivers' and lake's waves against the levees.[6]
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