水府庙水库 Shuǐ fǔ miào shuǐ kù, the Shuifumiao reservoir, lies west of 湘乡市 Xiāng xiāng shì in the south of 湘潭市 Xiāng tán shì, and it is one of the larger bodies of fresh water in this part of Hunan: about forty-four square kilometres of water with ninety-odd square kilometres of wooded catchment around it, and a shoreline that is all inlets and drowned valleys. Wooded islands stand in it – the local phrase is that there is water with islands in it and scenery on the islands – and the water is kept clean enough that a small fish called the 刁子鱼 diāo zi yú still thrives in it, which is a demanding creature that will not tolerate dirty water. The lake is a working reservoir, supplying water and controlling the flow of the 涟水 Lián shuǐ system, and it is also, in the way that Chinese reservoirs often are, a place where people go to eat fish and do nothing.
The resort buildings are strung along the shore at 棋梓镇 Qí zǐ zhèn and the villages round it, and they are of the plain Chinese kind: a main block with a dining room, a scatter of cabins and small blocks nearer the water, and a jetty. The lake is famous locally for its fire-cured fish, 火焙鱼 huǒ bèi yú, which is a municipal intangible-heritage product made from small fish salted, sun-dried, steamed and then smoked for two nights over tea-seed husk and rice husk, and every kitchen on the shore serves a version; the trade that supplies the province is based here. Since 2011 the city has taken some hundred thousand cage nets and nearly four hundred blocking weirs out of the water, so the fish now comes mostly from ponds fed with reservoir water rather than from the lake itself, and the water is the cleaner for it.
What there is to do is mostly on or beside the water. There are boat trips out to the islands and up the inlets, which are worth an hour or two for the birdlife and the drowned ridgelines; fishing from the bank, on the stretches where it is allowed; swimming in summer at the designated areas rather than anywhere that looks nice; and walking the perimeter roads, which are quiet and wooded. The lake is also close enough to be paired with the rest of 湘乡, which is the county-level city that produced 东山书院 Dōng shān shū yuàn, the academy a young 毛泽东 Máo Zé dōng attended in 1910, and 云门寺, its old temple. A stay here is usually two nights and it is usually about eating fish twice a day.
What the Rooms Are Like
Expect a room of twenty-five to thirty-five square metres, water-facing if you ask for it, with a firm bed, air conditioning, a shower room and a balcony in the newer blocks. The finish is simple and slightly dated and the price reflects it. Lake-facing rooms are the entire point and are worth insisting on; a room on the road side of the block looks at a car park. Some of the cabins near the water are older and damper than the main building, so ask when they were last refurbished, and ask whether the restaurant is open in the low season, because a couple of the shore places shut between November and March and there is nothing else within walking distance.
Practicalities
Price. A lake-facing double at 水府庙 runs ¥200 to ¥450 a night, with cabins near the water at the top of that range in summer. Weekend and holiday prices are higher, and in the flowering months the lake is busy with local families.
Address. The resorts are on the shore of 水府庙水库 Shuǐ fǔ miào shuǐ kù around 棋梓镇 Qí zǐ zhèn, 湘乡市 Xiāng xiāng shì, 湘潭市, on the western side of the reservoir about half an hour by road from 湘乡 town.
Rooms. Ask for a water-facing room and for one with a balcony you can actually sit on. Ask the kitchen what came out of the water that day rather than ordering from the menu, and ask for the 火焙鱼 steamed rather than stir-fried if you want to taste the smoke.
Getting there. 湘乡市 is on the 沪昆 high-speed line with 湘乡站 Xiāng xiāng zhàn, about twenty minutes from 湘潭 and under an hour from 长沙, and the reservoir is a further half hour west by road. From 湘潭市 the drive is about an hour. A car is needed for the shore, since the villages round the lake are not on a usable bus route, and the resort will usually send someone to the station for a fee.
Where to stay: the small resorts and guesthouses on the shore of 水府庙水库 around 棋梓镇 in 湘乡市. Take a water-facing room, eat the fire-cured fish, go out on the water in the morning, and plan nothing else for the afternoon.
flowcloud would say that a reservoir built to hold water for a city, which ended up with wooded islands, a clean shoreline and a fish worth driving for, is the sort of accident that landscape architects spend careers failing to reproduce.