The Dongchang Lake Scenic Area is located in the southwest urban area of Liaocheng, with a total area of 20.6 square kilometers. The famous Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal shuttles through the scenic area. The scenic area is centered on the ancient city of Liaocheng built in the Northern Song Dynasty and relies on the Dongchang Lake with vast water surface, beautiful scenery and surrounding the ancient city area. It embodies the characteristics of Liaocheng’s ‘water, ancient, and culture’, creating Liaocheng’s unique style of ‘a lake in the city, a city in the lake, and the city, lake and river as one’. It is a very famous scenic area in western Shandong and the bordering areas of Hebei, Shandong and Henan. The Dongchang Lake Scenic Area has profound cultural connotations and rich tourism resources. Ancient Chinese masterpieces such as ‘Water Margin’, ‘Strange Tales from a Lonely Studio’, and ‘Travels of Lao Can’ all have descriptions of ancient Liaocheng and Dongchang Lake. Thousands of years of historical vicissitudes and an endless stream of outstanding figures have created a rich cultural background and foundation for the Dongchang Lake Scenic Area. The charming natural scenery and numerous cultural attractions also converge into the rich tourism resources of the Dongchang Lake Scenic Area. In the scenic area, there are scattered the Guangyue Tower of the Ming Dynasty, one of the existing ancient wooden structure buildings in China, the Iron Pagoda of the Song Dynasty, a treasure of Chinese Buddhist culture, the Shanxi-Shaanxi Guild Hall, a beautiful Qing Dynasty building that combines commerce and culture, and Haiyuan Pavilion, one of the four private libraries in Qing Dynasty. There are also cultural attractions such as Fu Sinian Memorial Hall and Comrade Kong Fansen Memorial Hall. Open all year round and all day.
