Miquan Lake

Miquan Lake

Hu Benkai

Miquan Lake is located 6.5 kilometers southwest of Jiayu County’s county seat, between Guanqiao, Gao Tie, and Yuyue towns. It is surrounded by residual hills on the east, south, and west sides, while the north faces a river-alluvial plain. The lake collects surface runoff from the surrounding areas, with a catchment area of 84 square kilometers, a water surface of 12.5 square kilometers, and a capacity of 23.75 million cubic meters, making it the second largest lake in the county.

Originally named Daping Lake, Miquan Lake got its name from the Taiping Temple located by its shores. The change from Taiping Lake to Miquan Lake comes from a local legend: one year, there was a severe drought. For ninety-nine consecutive days, not a single drop of rain fell, and even Taiping Lake dried up completely. People from a hundred-mile radius carried offerings and marched to the Dragon King Temple, beating drums and gongs to pray for rain—but their pleas went unanswered. On a stifling night, suddenly, rhythmic drumming and music could be heard coming from the cracked bed of Taiping Lake. People who had gone out to cool off looked toward the lake and saw a fireball as big as a bowl radiating colorful halos—an astonishing sight for the villagers. But when they approached, there was nothing to be seen. A few brave young men took up their hoes and started digging. They dug until just before dawn, when they suddenly unearthed a large bell over a person’s height tall. The bell was carved with eight vividly realistic dragon heads, twenty-four smaller ones, and strange inscriptions and patterns. Suddenly, some careless fellow struck the bell with his hoe, which let out a thunderous “dong.” As the resounding chime echoed, cool spring water gushed out from thirty-two dragon mouths of varying sizes. When they struck the bell a second time, in the blink of an eye, thirty-two large springs appeared on the parched bed of Taiping Lake. The water bubbled up noisily, and the thirsty locals rushed to scoop it up with their hands. The water was as sweet as honey. After that, every time they struck the bell, the water level would rise three inches. By the time the sun rose, the once-parched bed of Taiping Lake had become a full lake of spring water. When the county magistrate heard of this, he sought to seize the magical bell to present it to the emperor in hopes of gaining promotion and wealth. Just as the officials reached the lakeside, the treasured bell shot out a flash of golden light and vanished without a trace. Though the magic bell was gone, the water from the eight major springs and twenty-four smaller ones continued to flow endlessly—clear and sweet. From then on, people renamed Taiping Lake as Miquan Lake, or “Honey Spring Lake.”

Historical records indicate that in the third year of the Shaosheng era of the Northern Song Dynasty (1096 AD), during a drought when the lake dried up, eight “sweet springs” continued to flow within the lake bed, providing drinking water. The grateful local populace praised them as “honey springs,” and the lake was subsequently renamed after them. At that time, locals also excavated a “Chu Gong Bó Bell” here. The county magistrate at the time sent the bell to Wuchang Prefecture, but it was “cast into the weapons forge” and destroyed. Moved by the event, the poet Qin Shaoyou wrote an essay titled “Lament for the Bó Bell.” According to the Zhao Mingcheng’s “Jin Lu” as recorded in the Hubei General Annals of the 10th year of the Republic of China, the bell bore an inscription of fourteen characters: “Chu Gong made this precious great bell; may his descendants treasure it forever.” This has been documented throughout history.

Miquan Lake has always been an important waterway for transportation. Before the development of highways, merchants and goods traveling between Chongyang and Puchi (now Chibi City) would take a 13-kilometer water route (including an 8-kilometer section along Luma River) from Mibu (now part of Guanqiao Town) to Jiayu County’s county seat, or onward to the Yangtze River via Jiayu. Although the reduced size of the lake and the development of roads have led to less use of this waterway today, it remains an important route for local transport around the lake area.

Miquan Lake is an important freshwater aquaculture lake in Jiayu County. With an average elevation of 19 meters above sea level at the lake bottom, a consistent water level maintained at 23 meters, and an average depth of 4 meters, it provides ideal conditions for fish farming. The county-run Miquan Lake Aquaculture Farm is located here, making it one of the six ten-thousand-mu crab farming bases in Jiayu County.

In terms of farmland water conservancy, an outlet of the lake leads to Yuyue Mountain via the Luma River. The Yongyi Electric Drainage Station has been constructed here. During droughts, floodwater can be directed in through the Yongyi Sluice, and during waterlogging, excess water can be drained via the Yongyi Electric Drainage Station. Surrounding the lake, fourteen electric irrigation stations—including the one at Mibu—have been built, with a total of 17 units generating 1,350 kilowatts of power to draw water for irrigating farmland. These irrigations benefit over 40,000 acres of cropland.