Dongting Lake

Dongting Lake (Chinese:洞庭湖; pinyin:Dòngtíng hú) is a large, shallow lake in northeastern Hunan province, China. It is a flood basin of the Yangtze River (Chang Jiang). Hence the lake's size depends on the season. The provinces of Hubei and Hunan are named after their location relative to the lake: Hubei means "North of the Lake" and Hunan means "South of the Lake".