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Erhai Lake is a famous alpine lake in Yunnan, known as Kunming Lake in ancient times, just as its name implies, is similar to an ear in the form. It is a lake formed after a foundering of the earth's crust. It is a fresh water lake in the Yunnan Plateau at an elevation of 1,972 meters. In the middle of it, there are islets and sandbars. It lies on the Tuanshan Mountain in north of Dali. It starts at Dengchuan in the north and ends at Xiaguan in the south with a length of 42 km and width of 8 km. It is 116 km in circumference and covers an area of 250 square km. The average depth is about 11 meters and the total storage capacity is 2.5billion cubic meters. The blue, rippling lake and the snow-covered Cangshan Mountain add radiance and beauty to each other. The scene is, therefore, described as Silver Cangshan and Jade Erhai. Three main islands and several temples and villages along the lake's dry eastern shore are worth visiting. Erhai Moon is one of the best sights where one can enjoy the moon mirrored on the lake on a clear night. The Erhai Lake is also rich in aquatic animals. About an hour by boat from Xianguan is Golden Shuttle Island (Jinsuo Dao), with a small fishing community on the east side and a cave for exploring. On the shore, directly north of the island, is a rocky peninsula crowned by a pavilion and temple. Sacred Buddhist buildings, destroyed and rebuilt many times, have stood on this spot for nearly 1,500 years. In addition, the Erhai Sea and the Cangshan Mountain create the beautiful Erhai Park.
The Erhai Park took the advantage of the rich nature surroundings, as the building base and is embellished and decorated with man-made scenes. It is located at Tuanshan Mountain, 2.5km away from Xianguan. It was once a royal deer ranch of the Nanzhao Kingdom. Built in 1976, the park covers an area of 1,150,000 square meters. Climbing along the path up to the mountain, one can see green pine trees, famous flowers like camellia, magnolia primrose, cuckoo, oriental cherry and azalea. On the top of the mountain, there are pavilion, corridor, zoo, tea pub, restaurant, and so forth. Standing high on the top, one will have a pleasant view of the jade-like Erhai Lake dotted with sails here and there and the silvery Cangshan Mountain.
