East Lake (Wuhan) 武汉东湖

About East Lake (Wuhan)

Tingtao offers a lower-key lakeside setting and a connection with the poet Qu Yuan; Moshan brings hill views and a different sequence of gardens. The causeways make the scale easier to appreciate, but the far shores are not a short stroll apart. Choose one entrance and a manageable shoreline section, with seasonal flowers treated as an extra rather than the reason every visitor must follow the same route.

East Lake was formed by silting of the Yangtze River and remained linked to the river and neighboring lakes until the early twentieth century. Between 1899 and 1902 the Huguang viceroy Zhang Zhidong (张之洞) had dikes and sluice gates built between the Yangtze and the lake, separating East Lake from the river. In 1929 the banker Zhou Canghe (周苍柏) began developing Haiguang Nongpu (海光农圃) on its shore, opening it to the public in 1930 as Wuhan's earliest city park.

The lake covers a water area of 33 square kilometers with an irregular shoreline of more than 120 bays, effectively forming a series of connected sub-lakes. Its south shore is hilly, its east and west shores are gently rolling plain, and its northwest shore is alluvial plain. The Wuhan East Lake National Wetland Park (武汉东湖国家湿地公园), covering about 10.2 square kilometers, spans the Chuidi and Luoyan areas.

East Lake is a national 5A tourist attraction (国家5A级旅游景区) and one of the first national key scenic areas (国家重点风景名胜区). The Hubei Provincial Museum (湖北省博物馆) on its shore is a national key museum holding more than 200,000 relics, including 945 first-class national relics such as the Zenghouyi bianzhong chime bells (曾侯乙编钟) and the sword of King Goujian of Yue (越王勾践剑). The East Lake Greenway (东湖绿道) opened in 2016.

What to look for

• The lake-and-causeway landscape between distinct shoreline areas.
• Tingtao’s Qu Yuan memorial setting and the wooded slopes around Moshan.

Location & getting there

Getting to East Lake (Wuhan)

Select Tingtao, Liyuan or Moshan as the actual destination before arranging transport. The provincial museum lies by the western shore; a museum-and-Tingtao plan is different from travelling to the Moshan garden area.