Beautiful mountains, waters, and scenery. MeiShan Lake Scenic Area is located in the heart of the Dabie Mountains, at the junction of Hubei, Henan, and Anhui provinces, on the upper reaches of the Shihe River, a tributary of the Huai River, formed by the construction of MeiShan Reservoir. MeiShan Reservoir began construction in March 1954 and was completed in April 1956. The reservoir’s hub project consists of five parts: a dam across the river, a spillway, a flood discharge tunnel, a bottom hole for water discharge, and a power generation plant. It is a high-level reinforced concrete arch dam designed and constructed by China during the ‘First Five-Year Plan’ period. The dam stands at 88.24 meters high and is 443.5 meters long, composed of 15 piers and 16 arches. The watershed area of the reservoir is 1,970 square kilometers, accounting for 28.6% of the total area of the Shihe River basin, with a total storage capacity of 2.337 billion cubic meters. It is a key project in the Huai River basin, serving as a large-scale water conservancy hub project with comprehensive utilization functions such as flood control, irrigation, power generation, navigation, aquaculture, and tourism. The artificial lake, arch dam, along with the green pines on the mountains, the bamboo groves, and beautiful legends, have attracted countless tourists from home and abroad. The dam is majestic and spectacular, with a momentum like a rainbow lying on the waves, spanning across the high gorge and the flat lake. Visitors here can not only appreciate the natural scenery but also feel the accumulation of history, inspiring ancient thoughts, dissipating melancholy, and adding vigor to life. The opening hours are from 07:00 to 18:00 all year round; from 08:00 to 17:30 all year round.
