Yuangyang (Lovebirds) Lake

( chinadaily.com.cn )

Updated: 2011-09-20

The seren lake

Yuangyang (Lovebirds) Lake is located in downtown Yangjiang city of Shangrao. Legend has it that a poor scholar and a silver spoon girl were once in love, but ended up throwing themselves into this lake against the opposition by the girl's family. So the lake is called “Yuangyang (Lovebirds) Lake” because in Chinese culture Yuangyang means an affectionate couple.

In 1997 the lake area was listed as a "Provincial-level Natural Reserve". It has a total area of 917 hectares and a core area of 715 hectares. The reserve area covers 225.3 hectares with a water storage capacity of 13.48 million cubic meters. Yuangyang(Lovebirds) Lake has a water area of 47 hectares, and has the function to adjust temperature. The clear lake water is surrounded by pavilions and terraces.

The clear lake water is surrounded by pavilions and terraces.

Nanguo Kite Square sits by the lake, built in 1991 with coverage of 120,000 square meters. It can accommodate tens of thousands of people flying kites. As China's most famous kite flying field, a kite-flying competition is held here annually.

Natural vegetations in the lake area are mainly broad-leaved evergreen forest and pinus massoniana. There are 185 kinds of woody plants covering more than 95 percent of the total land. The favorable natural environment attracts a great number of animals to settle and breed here. It is the homeland of 89 kinds of animals including 6 kinds of national second-class protected animals.

Among them are 17 kinds of mammals, 22 kinds of reptile amphibians, and 50 species of birds. Every year it attracts a large number of mandarin ducks, ospreys, mallards, egrets, wild geese and swans, whilst mandarin ducks are the majority with a maximum of 2,000 pairs, amounting to two thirds of known number of wild mandarin ducks in the world.

It is known as the largest wild Yuangyang (mandarin duck) habitat in Asia and the world at large. The Yuangyang (Lovebirds) Lake scenic area was named as China AAAA-level scenic spot on Feb 1, 2009.

There are 185 kinds of woody plants covering more than 95 percent of the total land.

The favorable natural environment attracts a great number of animals to settle and breed here.

The Yuanyang, or Mandarin Duck