Wanlu Lake Scenic Area

A made lake that stopped looking made

Wanlu Lake, in Heyuan, Guangdong, at about 23.726°N, 114.648°E, is the reservoir behind the Xinfengjiang Dam, built at the turn of the 1960s for hydropower. Flooding the valley left the hilltops standing as islands — several hundred of them — and sixty years of subtropical growth has covered them completely. The name means roughly "ten thousand greens", for a landscape that never turns brown.

The reservoir is a working part of the Dongjiang river system, which supplies water to the cities of the Pearl River Delta and to Hong Kong, and its water quality is managed accordingly. That is the practical reason the shoreline is far less developed than a lake this close to Guangzhou and Shenzhen would otherwise be.

Visiting notes

Heyuan is roughly two hours by road or rail from both Guangzhou and Shenzhen, which makes this a weekend lake for the delta cities — expect it to be busiest on Saturdays and public holidays. The lake is seen by boat between island landings rather than on foot; the water is what you have come for, so a clear day matters more here than at most sights.

Southern China’s wet season runs roughly from April to September, with the heaviest rain and the occasional typhoon remnant in mid-summer. Autumn is the most reliable stretch for still water and long views.