Once a 41,000 hectare haven for fishermen, the lake was dying by early 2000. Now, a decade after a project to revive it was started, the water body in Hubei province is coming back to life. Sun Ye reports.

Honghu Lake, Hubei province's biggest lake, is "a place better than paradise" with abundant fish, rice, lotus and ducks, says a popular Chinese folk song.

This was true until overfishing in the 1980s and 1990s ruined the 41,000-hectare haven for the fishermen.