Four Seasons of Tianchi Lake

Four Seasons of Tianchi Lake

Introduction: Spring arrives late. After the winter snow melts, the grass by the lakeside turns green in an instant. Tiny flowers bloom among the grass, creating a delightful early spring scene. The needles of the snow mountain spruce tremble gently, and the tender buds of the poplar trees turn from yellow to green.

In the peak of summer, the temperature at Tianchi Lake remains around 20 degrees Celsius. With a gentle breeze blowing, it’s cool and pleasant — a perfect summer retreat. The lake shimmers with clear blue water, and the melodies of the Kazakh dombra drift through the air. The hospitable Kazakh people set up white yurts on the vast grassy shores of the lake, offering visitors milk tea, kumis (fermented mare’s milk), cheese, and hand-pulled lamb, along with delightful folk songs and dances.

Autumn at Tianchi Lake is the most colorful and enchanting. The mirror-like lake surface is no longer uniformly green but constantly shifting — changing with the rhythm of cloudy or sunny days, sunrise or sunset, and the play of light and shadow. The deep blue sky, fiery red clouds, dark green pine trees, and golden leaves are all reflected in the autumn waters, dyeing the lake in a riot of colors. Whenever ripples spread across the surface, thousands of reflections dance and shift endlessly, resembling a modernist painting unfolding on the lake.

Tianchi Lake freezes from late October to early May each year. For up to half the year, the lake is covered with ice up to one meter thick. Therefore, Tianchi is not only a summer resort for both domestic and international tourists, but also serves as an excellent high-altitude ice-skating rink in winter. The lake water comes from glaciers and is extremely pure, making the ice very smooth once frozen. Additionally, the winds are light and the sun is bright during this season, making it especially suitable for ice-skating competitions.　

Urumqi, Xinjiang