Largest Lakes in China

Qinghai Lake is the largest lake in China. Located in the Qinghai Province, to which it gave its name, Qinghai Lake is classified as an alkaline endorheic salt lake. The lake has fluctuated in size, shrinking over much of the 20th century but increasing since 2004. It had a surface area of 4,317 km2 (1,667 sq mi), an average depth of 21 m (69 ft), and a maximum depth of 25.5 m (84 ft) in 2008.

Adapted from Wikipedia: Qinghai Lake (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Lake Khanka (Russian: озеро Ханка) or Lake Xingkai (simplified Chinese: 兴凯湖; traditional Chinese: 興凱湖; pinyin: Xīngkǎi Hú), is a freshwater lake on the border between Primorsky Krai, Russia and Heilongjiang province, Northeast China (at 45°0′N 132°25′E).

Adapted from Wikipedia: Lake Khanka (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Taihu (Chinese: 太湖), also known as Lake Tai or Lake Taihu, is a lake in the Yangtze Delta and the third largest freshwater lake in China. The lake is in Jiangsu province and a significant part of its southern shore forms its border with Zhejiang. With an area of 2,250 square kilometers (869 sq mi) and an average depth of 2 meters (6.6 ft), it is the third-largest freshwater lake entirely in China, after Poyang and Dongting. The lake contains about 90 islands, ranging in size from a few square meters to several square kilometers.

Lake Tai is linked to the Grand Canal and is the origin of a number of rivers, including the Suzhou Creek.

The major cities around Taihu Lake include Suzhou, Wuxi, Changzhou and Huzhou. These urban areas form the core of the lake's cultural and economic region. University-led hydrological and ecological studies note that these four cities are the primary urban centers surrounding the lake.

Taihu Lake is officially designated as a national key scenic area under China's Major National Historical and Cultural Sites programme.

Adapted from Wikipedia: Lake Tai (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Hongze Lake, previously romanized as Lake Hungtze or Hung-tse, is the fourth-largest freshwater lake in China. Although it is known to have existed from antiquity, it drastically increased in size during the Qing when the Yellow River—then still flowing south of Shandong—merged with the Huai. The increased sediment and flow combined to greatly expand the lake, swallowing the previous regional center of Sizhou and the Ming Zuling tombs. During the imperial and republican periods, the lake formed part of the border between Jiangsu and Anhui provinces but since 1955, border changes have put it entirely in Jiangsu, in the counties of Sihong and Siyang in Suqian Prefecture and Xuyi and Hongze in Huai'an Prefecture. Since the establishment of the People's Republic of China, the lake has generally decreased in size as more of its inflow has been diverted for irrigation.

Adapted from Wikipedia: Hongze Lake (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Poyang Lake is the largest freshwater lake in China. Located within Jiujiang Prefecture in Jiangxi Province, it is fed by the Gan, Xin, and Xiu rivers and flows northward into the Yangtze River through a channel.

The area of Poyang Lake fluctuates dramatically between the wet and dry seasons, but in recent years the size of the lake has been decreasing overall. In a normal year the area of the lake averages 3,500 square kilometers (1,400 mi2). In early 2012, drought, sand quarrying, and the practice of storing water at the Three Gorges Dam lowered the area of the lake to about 200 square kilometers (77 mi2).

The lake provides a habitat for half a million migratory birds and is a favorite destination for birding. During the winter, the lake becomes home to many migrating Siberian cranes, up to 90% of this critically endangered species spend the winter there.

Adapted from Wikipedia: Poyang Lake (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Namtso (officially Namco; Chinese: 纳木错; pinyin: Nàmù Cuò; Tibetan: གནམ་མཚོ་, ZWPY: Nam Co) or Lake Nam (30°42′N 90°33′E), also referred to as Tengri Nor ('Heavenly Lake'; Mongolian: Tenger nuur), is a mountain lake on the border between Damxung County of Lhasa prefecture-level city and Baingoin County of Nagqu Prefecture in the Tibet Autonomous Region of China, approximately 112 kilometres (70 mi) NNW of Lhasa. It lies north of the Nyenchen Tanglha Mountains (Nyainqêntanglha) on the Tibetan Plateau.

Adapted from Wikipedia: Namtso (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Siling Lake (Tibetan: སེར་གླིང་མཚོ, Wylie: ser gling mtsho, ZWPY: Sêling Co; Chinese: 色林错; pinyin: Sèlín cuò) (also known as Qilin or Selincuo) is a salt lake in the Tibet Autonomous Region, China to the north of Xainza. Administratively it belongs to Xainza County and Baingoin County of Nagqu prefecture-level city. Doijiang is located near the lake, whilst Bangecuo is another nearby salt lake around four miles away to the east.

Adapted from Wikipedia: Siling Lake (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Bosten Lake (traditional Chinese: 博斯騰湖; simplified Chinese: 博斯腾湖; pinyin: Bósīténg Hú, Uyghur: باغراش كۆلى / Бағраш Көли / Baghrash Köli / Baƣrax Kɵli, Chagatai: Bostang) is a freshwater lake on the northeastern rim of the Tarim Basin, about 20 km (12 mi) east of Yanqi and 57 km (35 mi) northeast of Korla, Xinjiang, China in the Bayin'gholin Mongol Autonomous Prefecture. Covering an area of about 1,000 km2 (390 sq mi) (together with adjacent small lakes), it is the largest lake in Xinjiang and one of the largest inland freshwater lakes in China. Bosten lake receives water inflow from a catchment area of 56,000 km2 (22,000 sq mi).

The lake's Mongol, Uyghur and Chinese names are sometimes rendered as Bosten Hu, Bagrax-hu, Bagrasch-köl, Baghrasch köl, Bagratsch-kul, Bositeng Lake or Bositeng Hu.

The Kaidu River is the most important tributary to Lake Bosten, accounting for about 83% of its water inflow, other significant tributaries are the Huangshui Ditch (Chinese: 黃水溝), the Qingshui River (清水河), and Wulasite River (烏拉司特河).

Adapted from Wikipedia: Bosten Lake (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Tangra Yumco (Tibetan: དྭངས་རྭ་གཡུ་མཚོ, Wylie: dwangs rwa g.yu mtsho, Chinese: 当惹雍错; pinyin: dāng rě yōng cuò) is a salt lake in Tibet, China. It is in the southwest of Nyima County. Tangra Yumco is 835.8 square kilometres (322.7 sq mi), with a drainage area of 8,219.7 square kilometres (3,173.6 sq mi), an elevation of 4,528 metres (14,856 ft), length 71.7 kilometres (44.6 mi) and mean width 11.65 kilometres (7.24 mi) (maximum width 19.4 metres [64 ft]). It is the holy lake of the

Adapted from Wikipedia: Tangra Yumco (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Chao Lake (Chinese: 巢湖), also known by its Chinese name Chao Hu, is a lake wholly situated in Hefei, the capital of Anhui Province. It is the largest lake in Anhui and one of the five major freshwater lakes in China.

Adapted from Wikipedia: Chao Lake (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Dongting Lake (Chinese: 洞庭湖) is a large, shallow lake in northeastern Hunan Province, China. Also referred to less frequently as the Dongting Plain, it is a flood basin of the Yangtze River, so its volume depends on the season. The provinces of Hubei and Hunan are named after their location relative to the lake: Hubei means "North of the Lake" and Hunan, "South of the Lake".

Dongting Lake is famous in Chinese culture as the place of origin of dragon boat racing and is home to the critically endangered Yangtze finless porpoise.

Adapted from Wikipedia: Dongting Lake (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Yamdrok Lake (also known as Yamdrok Yumtso or Yamzho Yumco; Tibetan: ཡར་འབྲོག་གཡུ་མཚོ་, Wylie: yar 'brog g.yu mtsho, ZWPY: Yamzhog Yumco; Chinese: 羊卓雍錯; pinyin: Yángzhuó Yōngcuò, Yángzhuō Yōngcuò) is a freshwater lake in Tibet. It is one of the three largest lakes in Tibet. It is over 72 km (45 mi) long. The lake is surrounded by many snow-capped mountains and is fed by numerous small streams. The lake has an outlet stream, a tributary of Yarlung Tsangpo, at its far western end and means turquoise in English due to its color.

Around 90 km (56 mi) to the west of the lake lies the Tibetan town of Gyantse and Lhasa is 100 km (62 mi) to the northeast. According to local mythology, Yamdok Yumtso lake is the transformation of a goddess.

The Yamdrok Hydropower Station was completed and dedicated in 1996 near the small village of Baidi at the lake's western end. This power station is the largest in Tibet.

Adapted from Wikipedia: Yamdrok Lake (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Lop Nur or Lop Nor (Uyghur: لوپنۇر, Oirat: ᠯᠣ᠊ᠫᠨᡇᡇᠷ, romanized: Lob nuur, from an Oirat Mongolic name meaning "Lop Lake", where "Lop" is a toponym of unknown origin) is a now largely dried-up salt lake formerly located within the Lop Depression in the eastern fringe of the Tarim Basin in the southeastern portion of the Xinjiang Autonomous Region, northwestern China, between the Taklamakan and Kumtag deserts. Administratively, the lake is in Lop Nur town (Chinese: 罗布泊镇; pinyin: Luóbùpō zhèn), also known as Luozhong (罗中; Luózhōng) of Ruoqiang County, which in its turn is part of the Bayingolin Mongol Autonomous Prefecture.

The lake system, into which the Tarim River and Shule River drain from the west and east respectively, is the last remnant of the historical post-glacial Tarim Lake, which once covered more than 10,000 km2 (3,900 sq mi) in the Tarim Basin but had progressively shrunk throughout the Holocene due to rain shadowing by the Tibetan Plateau. Lop Nur is hydrologically endorheic; it is landbound, has no outlet, and has relied largely on meltwater runoffs from the Tianshan, Kunlun and the western Qilian Mountains.

Adapted from Wikipedia: Lop Nur (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Ayakkum Lake (Chinese: 阿雅克库木湖; Uyghur: ئاياققۇم كۆلى‎) is a lake near the northern boundary of the Tibetan Plateau, to the southeast of the Kunlun Mountains. While many of the small glacier and snowmelt-fed streams on the Plateau give rise to major South-east Asian rivers (including the Mekong and Yangtze), some empty into saline lakes such as Lake Ayakkum. The lake is growing because of increased flows from small glacier- and snowmelt-fed streams.

Adapted from Wikipedia: Lake Ayakkum (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Lake Manasarovar also called Mapam Yumtso, is a high altitude freshwater lake near Mount Kailash in Burang County, Ngari Prefecture, Tibet Autonomous Region, China. It is located at an elevation of 4,600 m (15,100 ft), near the western trijunction between China, India and Nepal. It overflows into the adjacent salt-water lake of Rakshastal via the Ganga Chhu. The sources of four rivers: Indus, Sutlej, Brahmaputra, and Karnali lie in the vicinity of the region.

The lake is sacred in Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and the Bon religion. People from India, China, Nepal and other countries in the region undertake a pilgrimage to the region. The pilgrimage generally involves trekking towards Lake Manasarovar and a circumambulation of the nearby Mount Kailash.

Adapted from Wikipedia: Lake Manasarovar (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Pangong Tso or Pangong Lake is an endorheic lake spanning eastern Ladakh in India and Ngari Prefecture in Tibet. Situated at an elevation of 14,200 ft (4,300 m), it occupies an area of approximately 604 km2 (233 sq mi). It stretches for 134 km (83 mi) and is 5 km (3.1 mi) wide at its broadest point. It is located in a landlocked basin and is separated from the Indus River basin by an elevated ridge. The water is saline, and the lake freezes during winter.

Approximately two-thirds of the lake lies within the area administered by China, with the remainder controlled by India. The Line of Actual Control, which demarcates the Sino-Indian border, passes through the lake. A section of the lake is claimed both by China and India, and has been part of the wider Sino-Indian border dispute. As a result of the dispute, the region saw conflict during the Sino-Indian War in 1962 and 2020–2021 China–India skirmishes.

Adapted from Wikipedia: Pangong Tso (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Lake Aqqikkol is a saline lake in Xinjiang, China. The lake falls within the borders of Ruoqiang County, and is noted as being a gathering place for local and migratory birds.

Adapted from Wikipedia: Lake Aqqikkol (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Lumajangdong Co (Tibetan: ལུ་མ་བྱང་སྟོང་མཚོ, Wylie: lu ma byang stong mtsho; Chinese: 鲁玛江东错; pinyin: Lǔmǎjiāngdōng Cuò) is a lake in the Ngari Prefecture, Tibet, China with an area of 250 km2. It is located at 34° 2' 0" and 81° 40' 0". Gormain lies a few miles (5–7 km) to the northwest.

Adapted from Wikipedia: Lumajangdong Co (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Lake Rakshastal (Tibetan: ལག་ངར་མཚོ; Sanskrit: राक्षसताल, romanized: Rākṣasatāla; Chinese: 拉昂错; pinyin: Lā áng cuò) is a saltwater lake in Tibet Autonomous Region of China, lying just west of Lake Manasarovar and south of Mount Kailash. The Sutlej River (also known by the Tibetan name Langqen Zangbo in this area) originates about 17 km to the west. Rakshas Tal is at 4,575 metres above sea level whereas the Manasarovar is at 4,690 metres.

Adapted from Wikipedia: Lake Rakshastal (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Puma Yumco (Tibetan: ཕུ་མ་གཡུ་མཚོ, Wylie: phu ma g.yu mtsho; simplified Chinese: 普莫雍错; traditional Chinese: 普莫雍錯; pinyin: Pǔmò Yōngcuò) is a lake located at 5,030 m (16,500 ft) above mean sea level on the southern Tibetan Plateau, and is situated within Nagarzê County of the Tibet Autonomous Region. It is 32 km (20 mi) long, 14 km (8.7 mi) wide, and covers an area of 280 km2 (110 sq mi). Streams of water from the snow-capped surrounding mountains feed the lake, and its water surplus flows into Yamdrok Lake via an outlet located at its southeastern end. Some sediment can be seen entering the lake at its western end.

Puma Yum literally means The Blue Jewel which is floating in the sky. The lake freezes in winter and is crossed by shepherds with their sheep. The lake is considered ultraoligotrophic, meaning that nutrient concentrations in both the water column and lake sediments are extremely low. Water in such lakes tends to be blue to blue-green and to have high clarity due to low levels of photosynthesizing organisms such as phytoplankton.

Adapted from Wikipedia: Puma Yumco (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Kotra Tso (Tibetan: ཀོ་བཀྲ་མཚ, Wylie: ko bkra mtsha, THL: ko tra tsa), or Guozha Lake (Chinese: 郭扎错; pinyin: Guō zhā cuò),

previously called Lake Lighten, is a glacial lake in Rutog County in the Ngari Prefecture in the northwest of the Tibet Autonomous Region of China. It lies in the western Kunlun Mountains to the northwest of Bangda Lake, not far from the regional border with Xinjiang. Located at an altitude of 5080 metres, it covers an area of 244 square kilometres with a maximum depth of 81.9 metres and has a drainage basin containing 62 glaciers.

India's claim line in Aksai Chin runs along the water-parting line of Lake Lighten and the Amtogor Lake to the west. However, China has claimed the whole of Aksai Chin in 1959.

Adapted from Wikipedia: Guozha Lake (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Ulansuhai Nur or Wuliangsuhai (Chinese: 乌梁素海; pinyin: Wūliángsù Hǎi) is a freshwater lake in located in southwest Inner Mongolia, North China, on the north (left) bank of Yellow River's Ordos Loop. The lake has an area of 233 km2 (90 sq mi), a north–south length of 35.4 km (22.0 mi) and mean east–west width of 6.6 km (4.1 mi) (max 12.7 km or 7.9 mi), with a drainage area of 11,800 km2 (4,600 sq mi) at an elevation of 1,018.79 m (3,342.5 ft).

Ulansuhai Nur is a rare big multi-functional lake in the desolate and drought-stricken grassland. It has 150 km2 (58 sq mi) of bulrush square kilometers with nearly 200 species of birds and over 20 species of fish.

Adapted from Wikipedia: Ulansuhai Nur (CC BY-SA 4.0).