South Gate Lake

South Gate Lake

South Gate Lake is located at the south gate of Haicheng, covering an area of approximately 100 acres. The land where the lake was dug was originally the fields, ponds, and properties of local households such as the Wu family in Haicheng. In the second year of the Chongzhen era of the Ming Dynasty (1629), County Magistrate [Zhou Yijing], after assessing the geographical location of the county government office, proposed digging a lake directly south in front of the office. He planned to divert water from Longjin in the east of the city into South Gate Lake on the left, and let it flow out to Xixi in the west of the city on the right, while also constructing a pagoda on Xiedao Mountain by the shore of Xixi to suppress flooding. Thus, he led the local gentry in pooling funds to purchase the fields and ponds of the Wu family and others to dig the lake, intending it to serve as the “Mingtang accumulation” for the county government. But it was the late Ming period, and Haifeng was in a state of military chaos and disorder, so the project was abandoned halfway. The land earmarked for the lake still had to pay grain taxes, and the Wu family and other locals ended up selling their ponds and fields again. The project was postponed until the 27th year of the Kangxi reign in the Qing Dynasty (1688), when County Magistrate [Yao Deji] gathered the gentry once more to deliberate. They contributed 300 taels of silver for building the pagoda and excavating the lake. At the same time, 40 taels were provided to buy back the land for the lake. This eventually led to the digging of the man-made South Gate Lake. (See the Continued Compilation of the Haifeng County Annals from the Tongzhi Era · Construction). In the late Qing Dynasty, a pavilion with a pointed roof was constructed in the middle of the lake, connected to the shore by a winding bridge. It was later destroyed.