Qionghai Lake, as a national scenery spot, is the second largest fresh water lake of Sichuan Province, in 5km away from downtown Xichang, with an area of 26 km2 and an average depth of 14 m. Qionghai was called Qiongchi or Qionghe in ancient time, and it is a typical plateau sunk lake, in the land lay of northwest-northeast, with a length of 14.4 km and the maximum width of 5 km, looking like a snail with head toward northwest. The lake joins with Anning River at the northwest, with stiff bank at east-west direction and flat at south-west direction. Qionghai Lake origins from the spring swooshing from its bottom, so that the water is clear and transparent in green color, with fruitful grasses as well as freshwater fishes and shrimps.
Qionghai Lake is surrounded by mountains, and in the lake, there are a lot of small islands with the growth of reeds and willows. Watched from far away, it has mist-shrouded waters, so that when you visit there on a sunny day with your friends, you may feel you are walking in a beautiful painting. In morning, you will find the waves and clouds, and when you are on boat, you see mountains and blinking waters; just after noon, you will find the water soaring and overturning, like thousands of gooses playing in the lake, so that the wave is called “white goose weave”. In the midmonth night, the weather becomes calm and tranquil, with no cloud but a moon on sky, which is reflected in the water, making the lake illuminated; looking at the inverted images of mountains, willows, pavilions and galleries in water, you will feel like in a fairyland. The night moon of Qionghai has become a major scene of Xichang, for which Xichang gets its name of “moon city”.
Qionghai has different scenes in different seasons. In spring, there are peach, willows and swallows, with waves blinking in mountains, making you feel in painting when you are on boat; in summer, there are clam water, shining clouds and inverted images of temples and villages reflecting each other; in autumn, there is sunny day, wild duck, clear night moon reflected in water, which will really attract you; in winter, there are clear sky, transparent water, maples, cedars, pavilions, reflected in water, looking like a picture.
Qionghai has moderate weather like spring in all year. In the end of autumn and beginning of winter of each year, thousands of birds migrate to here, including 19 kinds of bird like swan, white crane, hernshaw, egression, swallow, heron, pond heron and duck, which makes Qionghai the paradise of birds.
Qionghai has become a scenery spot featured with nice and secluded beauty since Jin Dynasty. In its history, its beautiful scene and unique characteristic of Yi nationality attracted so many domestic and overseas visitors and famous figures, including Sima Qian (a famous historian of Han Dynasty), Sima Xiangru (a philologist of Han Dynasty), Mark Polo (an Italian tourist in Yuan Dynasty) and Yang Sheng’an (A No.1 Scholar in Ming Dynasty) etc, and they were all attracted and amazed by the scene. In the book of “Travel of Mark Polo”, Mark Polo praised Qionghai like this, “It has green water and beautiful scene, with the growth of grasses, fishes and pearls, and its weather and calmness go far beyond that of Mediterranean, which is really an oriental pearl”.
Except its beautiful scenes, Qionghai also has a lot of attractive folk tales, which further reflects its secret and beauty. The books of “Gaizhou Story” and “Taiping Yulan” written by Li Ying mentioned such tales.
The scenery spots surrounding Qionghai now include Qionghai Park, Qionghai Hotel, New Sandy Fishing Village, Lian Pond, Moon Bay, Sunshine Cottage, Luosha Rose Garden, Qilong Temple, Laohaiting Relics, Heitaocun Garden and the Water Sports School sponsored by the Sports Bureau of Sichuan.