Hongze Lake - Koutakuko

A lake in the north of Jiangsu Province, China. It has an area of ​​3,180 square kilometers, a storage capacity of 13 billion cubic meters, an elevation of 15.5 meters above sea level, and a maximum depth of 5.5 meters. Originally, there was no large lake, only a group of small lakes and marshes, and its ancient name was Broken Pot Pond. It was renamed Hongzepu in the Sui dynasty, and was first named Hongze Lake in the Tang dynasty. In the 12th century, the Yellow River flowed into the lower reaches of the Huai River, and when the riverbed rose due to the accumulation of mud, the Huai River could no longer drain and water accumulated here. As a result, the lake surface expanded, and over the two dynasties of the Ming and Qing dynasties, the water from the Huai River accumulated, and it became the third largest freshwater lake in China today. The lake water flows through Baoying Lake and Gaoyou Lake before discharging into the Yangtze River (Changjiang) (Yangtze River). Because the waterway is narrow, before liberation, there were frequent floods around the lake when the Huai River was flooding. After liberation in 1952, the Subei Irrigation General Canal was constructed and part of the lake water came to be used for irrigating farmland in northern Jiangsu Province and for water transport, but even today most of the water is still discharged into the Yangtze River. The lake is home to many freshwater fish, river shrimp, and river crabs, as well as rare wild birds such as red-crowned cranes and swans. Reeds and grasses grow abundantly along the coast, and water transport is also thriving.

[Kono Michihiro]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

中国、江蘇(こうそ／チヤンスー)省北部の湖。面積3180平方キロメートル、貯水容量130億立方メートル、湖面標高15.5メートル、最大水深5.5メートル。もとは大きな湖は存在せず、小湖沼群が存在するのみで、古称は破釜塘(はふとう)といった。隋(ずい)代に洪沢浦と改称され、唐代に初めて洪沢湖と名づけられた。12世紀に黄河(こうが／ホワンホー)が淮河(わいが／ホワイホー)下流部に流れ込み、その泥土の堆積(たいせき)で河床が高くなると、淮河は排水できなくなり、ここに水が集まった。そのため湖面が拡大し、明(みん)・清(しん)2代にわたり、淮河の流す水がたまって、今日のような中国第3位の大淡水湖となった。湖水は宝応湖、高郵湖を経て長江(ちょうこう／チャンチヤン)（揚子江(ようすこう／ヤンツーチヤン)）に排出される。水路が狭いので、解放前は淮河の増水期に湖の周辺で水害が多発した。解放後1952年蘇北灌漑総渠(そほくかんがいそうきょ)が建設され、湖水の一部は江蘇省北部の農地灌漑と水運に利用されるようになったが、現在も大部分の水は長江に排出されている。湖内には淡水魚やカワエビ、カワガニが多く生息し、また野鳥もタンチョウヅル、ハクチョウなど珍しいものが多い。沿岸にはヨシ、アシが繁茂し、水運も盛んである。

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