Ziyunshan Reservoir

Ziyunshan Reservoir

Ziyunshan Reservoir is one of the well-known large reservoirs in Jiangxi Province. It is listed as a key provincial water conservancy management project and serves as an excellent scenic garden destination for tourism, summer retreats, and recuperation. Located upstream of the Fengshui River in the southeastern part of the city, it lies 60 kilometers from the urban area at the border between the railway and Jiaokeng, and is named after the valley of Ziyun Mountain. The reservoir was constructed starting in August 1958 and completed for use in March 1960. It features one main dam and six auxiliary dams, intercepting a catchment area of 81.5 square kilometers of the Fengshui River basin, accounting for 11.5% of the city’s total reservoir catchment area. The total storage capacity is 116 million cubic meters, making up 16.22% of the city’s total reservoir capacity, with an effective capacity of 74.2 million cubic meters, representing 19% of the city’s effective reservoir capacity. A total of 148 irrigation channels of various sizes were built, spanning a combined length of 238 kilometers, including one main canal stretching 47 kilometers and 147 branch canals totaling 191 kilometers. These canals irrigate 160,000 mu of farmland, accounting for 14.36% of the city’s paddy field area. A power station with an installed capacity of 1,260 kilowatts was constructed behind the dam, along with a set of flood control wireless radio stations that transmitted water level data to provincial and even central flood control headquarters during the flood season.

During the 1959 construction period, technical innovations were implemented, and the “power-driven high-dam earth-moving hoist” was successfully developed. This machine could transport 1,080 cubic meters of earth to the dam daily, improving work efficiency by 148 times compared to manual labor. On November 17, People's Daily reported this achievement. On December 25, the Ministry of Agriculture, the Ministry of Agricultural Machinery, and the Ministry of Water Resources and Electric Power jointly held a national water conservancy work site meeting in Fengcheng. Following the meeting, water conservancy delegations from 28 provinces and cities came to visit and learn, making the project nationally renowned for a time.

The reservoir also serves as a site for fish farming, with a water surface area of 10,500 mu available for aquaculture. It includes over 120 mu of fish hatcheries and breeding ponds, producing 500,000 to 800,000 fingerlings annually from net cages and 20 million fry. The reservoir yields over 200,000 jin of catchable fish per year, with a peak annual production of 215,400 jin. In 1983, a new record was set with a single haul of 140,000 jin, including some fish weighing over 100 jin. It is the largest artificial fish farming reservoir in Fengcheng.

Surrounded by mountains and lush forests, Ziyunshan Reservoir blends crystal-clear waters with verdant hills. With its mild climate and cool summers and autumns, the area features high-rise buildings, pavilions, and halls with modern characteristics and ethnic styles, all standing gracefully around the mountains. The natural environment is beautiful and the scenery is enchanting, making it an ideal destination for travel and summer retreats. Since the establishment of the Ziyunshan Administration in 1960, the number of visitors coming for spring outings and summer retreats has been increasing year by year during spring, summer, and autumn.