Fairy Maiden Lake
3 min readAs a famous lake scenic resort in China, the Fairy Maiden Lake is located in the southwest of Xinyu City,a key industrial city in the western Jiangxi. The scenic area occupies a land of 179 square kilometers,49 of which is covered with water. Ninety-nine islets are scattered on the lake just like stars in the sky. One-thousand-year-old temples, pottery kiln sites, the underwater ancient town and ancient bridges aver the lake are regarded as the Four Wonders.1600 years ago a scholar of the Eastern Jin Dynasty(317A.D.-420A.D.), Gan Bao by. name, recorded a beautiful love story between a fairy and a mortal in his novel Spirits. And the lake was the place where a fairy from heaven Zhi Nu(Weaver Maid) came down secretly to earth.
According to the upper, middle and lower reaches from west to east. the lake can be cut into three scenic areas. The upper reach is mist-covered Qianyang lake Scenic Area which is an inland lake of over 20 square kilometers. Under the water is sleeping a one-thousand-year-old ancient town -Qianyang Town.
The middle reach is Zhongshan Gorge Scenic Area, which is entitled”Little Three Gorges”together with Nine Turnings Gorge and Changshan Gorge. It has a three-kilometer-long valley and there are odd stones, steep cliffs, zigzagging streams and torrential current everywhere.
The lower reach is the glorious Wulong Lake Scenic Area. Here the beautiful natural scenery consists of well-preserved vegetation, limpid lake water, spotless air, and winding bays. Of the three scenic areas, Wulong Lake Scenic Area has the most spots and the fullest facilities.
As for the mountains around the lake, Dagang Mountain Scenic Area gets the reputation of being”Litle Lushan Mountain”. In addition to its natural scenery like woods, peaks and waterfalls, it has cultural relics such as elixir pool, temples, pagodas, stone tablets, and ancient tombs.
The main spots of the area are Reading Table where Jiangxi’s first No.1 scholar lu Zhao once read books, Wannian (ten-thousand-year) Bridge built in the Ming Dynasty, Lingshan Hall where Yan Song (an official of the Ming Dynasty) did researches and wrote books, Fenyi Town where Song Yingxing wrote the scientific book Tian Gong Kai Wu(Heavenly Creations), Wenchang Temple of the Tang Dynasty, Dragon King Temple of the Song Dynasty, and a large number of ancient kiln sites of the Eastern Han Dynasty. Now more and more tourist attractions are being built，such as a village of Dai Nationality，Snake Island，Monkey Island and Egret Island etc.Besides，some recreation projects have been created like speedboat and skydiving.The Fairy Maiden Lake has become an attractive tourist resort with its water amusement services and lakeside holiday services.
The climate in the Fairy Maiden Lake is comfortable.Its annual average temperature is 17℃，sunshine time 1677.4 hours，wind of force 1.6 to 2 level，rainfall 1534.8 mm，frost-free term 265 days and relative temperature 82%.The mild subtropical climate in the Fairy Maiden Lake enables more than 2000 plant species to grow well.The forest coverage rate has reached 90%.
