Songtao Lake Scenic Spot
3 min readPlease allow me to introduce the spot to you.Songtao Lake，also known as Songtao Reservoir，is located 15 kilometers away from Nada Town of Danzhou City，Hainan Province，and upper reaches of Nandu River，the longest river in Hainan.
Songtao Reservoir is one of China’s ten major reservoirs，with an area of 130 square kilometers and a storage capacity of 3.345 billion cubic meters.The dam here is 80.1 meters high and 760 meters long.She was majestically constructed under the care of Chairman Mao，Premier Zhou and other senior leaders of China.The construction started in the year of 1958，and was finished in 1970.During this period，Premier Zhou paid an inspection visit to Lanzhou City，and wrote the inscription for Songtao Reservoir.The abundant resource here is a rare case either in Hainan or the entire China.She irrigates the fields of 3 cities and 2 towns，and each year supplies 0.47 billion cubic meters of water as well as over 0.1 billion kilowatts of electricity.As the pioneer project of local economic development，Songtao Reservoir has been making enormous contributions to Hainan’s economy，society and environment.
Songtao Reservoir has been playing an important part in the irrigation of fields in Hainan since March 1963 after its construction.With more and more irrigation channels being dug in the following years，the irrigation scale of Songtao was enlarged，and now the irrigated region has been the agricultural base providing rice，oil and sugar during the drought and flood period in Hainan.Controlling the water areas of 1，440 square kilometers，Songtao Reservoir has almost eliminated the flood in the lower reaches of Nandu River.
The construction of Songtao Reservoir has greatly improved the quality of water for agriculture，industry and people’s daily life.Therefore，Songtao Reservoir is regarded as the First Key in the exploitation of Hainan Island.
With Songtao Reservoir being the first step for water conservancy，Hainan Province has never stopped its march. Nowadays, those who pay attention tothe water conservancy projects such as Dalong, Daguangba, Xiaomei, Hongling, shouldn’t ignore Songtao Reservoir. Instead, we should keep in mind that Songtao Reservoir is the First Golden Key to exploit Hainan Island when the entire Hainan Island benefits from water conservancy projects.
Songtao Lake has another distinctive name-the Heavenly Lake. Those who take their first look will marvel at the vast lake as if they were facing the sea. She’s the largest artificial lake in the province, dotted with above 100 small islands as beautiful as fairyland, surrounded by green mountains covered with flourishing primeval forest. Songs by fishermen flow through all things. The Heavenly Lake is changeable. Sometimes ripples carefully expand on the surface, while sometimes waves soar. When the water is tranquil enough to melt into sky, the curves of mountains and groves of coconut palms are highlighted. The scene is just like a piece of artwork. Mountains and caves attractively display themselves in all kinds of shapes. Here may be morning fog or glow, wild ducks and fisher boats to make up a unique scene. Both water and land transportation are convenient here, leading to many places. Sightseeing on the boat is a popular item here. It’s fancy admiring the curving mountains, towering trees, jade-green lake, flickering boats, wild animals, birds’ songs and all the vigour just on a slowly-moving boat.
As a national water conservancy scenic spot, Songtao Reservoir is otherwise given the name”Pearl of the Treasure Island”，possessing the functions of fishing，agriculture and tourism.Pure water，together with abundant microorganisms flushed from mountains，is excellent for the growth of fish，which is tender and fresh without the smell of mud.The famous Chinese dramatist and poet Tian Han visited Songtao Reservoir in 1962，and wrote the verse to sing high praise for the delicious fish here.The fish mentioned in his poem，is bighead-with a big head and small body.Its head tastes the best.The fish is fat with oil but not greasy.You can’t find a better place than Songtao Reservoir to taste the well-known bighead hotpot on a boat.May all of you take the chance to have a good taste of it and enjoy yourselves.
