Daming Lake

Daming Lake is one of the three great sights of Jinan and lies just north of the old city centre. It is not a lake in the ordinary sense but the overflow of the city's spring system: the Black Tiger, Baotu, Wulongtan and Zhenzhu spring groups empty into it, together with rain and the runoff of the western moat. After dredging in 2010 the lake covers 0.58 square kilometres, averages 2 metres in depth and holds about 830,000 cubic metres. Its bed is impermeable igneous rock, so the water does not drain away and the level stays fairly constant through the year. The water leaves through the North Water Gate into the Xiaoqing River and on to the Bohai Sea.