Dòngtíng Hú -- Dongting Lake

Dongting Lake(Chinese: 洞庭湖; pinyin: Dòngtíng Hú) is a large, shallow lake in northeastern Hunan province, China. It is a flood basin of the Yangtze River. Hence the lake's size 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 means "South of the Lake" in Chinese.

Dongting Lake is famous in Chinese culture as the place of origin of Dragon boat racing. Dragon boat racing is said to have begun on the eastern shores of Dongting Lake as a search for the body of Qu Yuan (屈原), the poet in Chu area(340-278 BC), and a dragon-king is said to live at the bottom of the lake.

Dragon boat racing 

Junshan (君山), which was formerly a Daoist retreat, is a famous one-kilometer island with 72 peaks in the middle of the lake. The island is also famous for its Junshan Yinzhen tea. The basin of Dongting Lake and its surrounding area is famous for its scenic beauty.

Junshan Island 

The scenery of the Jiuyi Mountains and of the Xiao and Xiang rivers below is often mentioned in Chinese poetry. During the Song Dynasty, it became the fashion to paint this region's scenery in a set of eight scenes, usually entitled as Eight Views of the Xiao and Xiang. The fashion spread to Japan, where eventually other famous places were substituted for the Xiao and Xiang rivers.

And, Dongting Lake is a home to the Finless Porpoise, which is endangered in China.  

Finless Porpoise