Hongze Lake is one of the five biggest fresh water lakes in our country. It is like a swan that is about to fly and is gazing the blue sky. The lake is located in the downstream of Huai River and the middle part of North Jiangsu Plain; it accepts waves of Huai River and connects Yangtze River and Yellow Sea. Water area of Hongze Lake reaches about 3 million mou when its water line is 12.5 meters high; hence it is the second biggest fresh water lake in Jiangsu Province. And its meandering shoreline is about 365 kilometers long in all. Counties and districts around Hongze Lake are Huaiyin, Qingpu, Hongze, Xuyi, Siyang and so on, which are governed by Huai’an Municipality. According to ancient records, Hongze Lake was a part of a bay of Yellow Sea about 2 million years ago. Owing to rush by great rivers and huge waves, the bay was transferred to inland area, and many lakes and ponds were formed consequently. In 616 AD, Emperor Yang of Sui Dynasty took a ship to visit Jiangdu, drought occurred during his long tour, but when he passed through Pofu Pond, a heavy rain fell, so the emperor was very glad and changed the name of the pond into Hongze Pond, which later became a large lake during Tang Dynasty, therefore, it was called Hongze Lake since then.