Jingyuetan National Forest Park 净月潭

About Jingyuetan National Forest Park

The dam gives an immediate sense of the lake's artificial origin, while Guantan Hill's Bisong Jingyue Tower offers a higher view across water and trees. Woodland paths add a quieter scale to the visit. Select a few connected parts of the large park and use the operating internal transport where helpful, rather than assuming a full circuit of the reservoir is a short walk.

The reservoir at the park's core was built during the Manchukuo period. In 1933 authorities surveyed Xinjing (新京, present-day Changchun) and its water systems, and a dam across the Xiaoheyanzi River (小河沿子河), begun in 1934, created a reservoir with a 4.3-square-kilometer surface that entered use in January 1936; the name Jingyuetan ('Clean Moon Lake') comes from its crescent-shaped outline. A forest farm was later established across the reservoir's roughly 80-square-kilometer catchment area to prevent soil erosion, and decades of cultivation there produced the forest now surrounding the lake.

The lake was approved as a forest park in 1989 and listed as a key national scenic area in 1998; the park is designated a National Key Scenic Area (国家重点风景名胜区), National Forest Park, National Ecological Demonstration Zone (国家生态示范区) and national 5A tourist attraction (国家5A级旅游景区), and is described as the largest man-made forest park in Asia. Two Jin-dynasty tombs within the park are listed as Changchun municipal cultural-heritage protection units (长春市文物保护单位).

The park lies in the transition zone between the Changbai Mountains and the Inner Mongolian grassland, on a spur of the Dahei Mountains (大黑山), at elevations between 220 and 406.5 meters across 119 hills, with a temperate, semi-humid monsoon climate and forest covering more than 80 percent of its area.

What to look for

• The reservoir dam and waterside views of the crescent-shaped lake.
• Bisong Jingyue Tower and the Taiping Bell Tower on Guantan Hill, with views across the forest.

The surrounding area

Provincial capital base for modern history, Xinmin Avenue and the separate Jingyuetan outdoor area.

Location & getting there

Getting to Jingyuetan National Forest Park

Approach the park at 5840 Jingyue Street, served by Jingyuegongyuan station on Metro Line 3. Confirm the route and internal transport between the dam, hill and forest paths.