Anqing Cazi Lake National Wetland Park

Anqing Cazi Lake National Wetland Park

Anqing Cazi Lake National Wetland Park is a national-level wetland park.

Anhui Anqing Cazi Lake National Wetland Park is located in Luoling Town, Yixiu District, Anqing City, on the northern bank of the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River. It is one of the nine major connected lakes in Anqing and was officially approved by the State Forestry Administration in December 2015 to begin pilot construction as a national wetland park. The total area of the wetland park is 2,539 hectares, of which the wetland area is 2,358 hectares, accounting for a wetland ratio of 92.87%.

Cazi Lake National Wetland Park features the vast and clear hydrological landscape of Cazi Lake as its main attraction, complemented by rich biological and cultural landscapes. The characteristics of its scenic resources can be summarized as: clear waters, lush grass, expansive blue skies and open land, birds in flight and fish leaping, people at leisure and boats drifting peacefully. This place not only boasts the traditional Dragon Boat culture but is also the birthplace of Huangmei Opera—one of China’s five major opera genres—while Anqing is also the cradle of Peking Opera. During the Qing Dynasty, the area was famed far and wide as the “Home of Scholars,” earning the reputation of “Three Scholars within Five Li, Two Top Imperial Exam Toppers Across the River.”

Cazi Lake is an important stopover, wintering ground, and breeding site for migratory birds, hosting a total of 142 bird species from 42 families across 15 orders, with an estimated total of around 100,000 waterbirds. Among them, 12 species are under national key protection. Of the waterfowl that inhabit and overwinter at Cazi Lake, 15 species meet or exceed the 1% criterion of their migratory route populations. Within the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, there are six waterbird species that exceed the global 1% threshold of threatened migratory populations, three of which are found in Cazi Lake. As a natural shallow-water lake wetland formed in river valley depressions along rivers, Cazi Lake Wetland is characterized by its representativeness, naturalness, rarity, and diversity.

With its majestic mountains and flowing waters, and a fairy-tale-like charm, Cazi Lake is set to become a shining jewel in the wetland conservation and sustainable utilization of the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River as the development of Cazi Lake National Wetland Park continues.