Lake · China
Poyang Lake
Poyang Lake is the largest freshwater lake in China. It lies in Jiangxi Province and grows and shrinks a lot between the wet and the dry season.
Picture credit: Alastair Rae (CC BY-SA 2.0) · 武铁辆玻 (CC BY-SA 2.0) · 武铁辆玻 (CC BY-SA 2.0) · Wikimedia Commons
Where is Poyang Lake?
Countries on its shores: China.
Middle of the lake: 29.08° N, 116.28° E
The story behind it
Poyang Lake is a lake that changes its shape all the time. Three rivers, the Gan, the Xin and the Xiu, pour water into it, and a channel in the north carries the water on to the mighty Yangtze River. In the rainy season the lake normally covers about 3 500 km². In the dry season the water level can drop by up to 20 metres, and wide grassy plains and mudflats appear. In a very dry year, 2012, only about 200 km² were still under water in October. In winter, about half a million migratory birds rest here. Up to 90 per cent of all Siberian cranes, which are very rare, spend the winter at the lake. Poyang is also home to shy finless porpoises, small grey porpoises without a back fin. To protect fish and porpoises, fishing on the lake was banned for ten years in 2020.
Find it on the globe
Poyang Lake is there as a small blue dot with its name, right on the water. From far away the planet is only a blue ball; detail arrives as you zoom in, and this one appears once you are close enough. Open it on the globe.
It sits at its real coordinates, not near them — the same numbers listed in the facts above. Switch off the layer for this kind of place and it disappears again; the buttons for that are down the right-hand edge.
Questions children ask
How big is Poyang Lake?
In a normal year Poyang Lake covers about 3 500 km², which makes it the largest freshwater lake in China. In the dry season it shrinks a lot; in 2012 only about 200 km² were left in October.
Where does the water of Poyang Lake go?
It flows north through a channel into the Yangtze River. The Gan, Xin and Xiu rivers bring new water into the lake from the south.
Which birds spend the winter at Poyang Lake?
About half a million migratory birds stay at the lake. Among them are up to 90 per cent of all Siberian cranes, a very rare kind of crane.
Where these numbers come from
Every figure on this page was checked against public reference sources before publication. Where sources genuinely disagree, the text says so.
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