Published : 28/05/2026
Fuxian Lake in Yunnan is famed for its picture-perfect scenery, with crystal-clear waters and mountains all around, making it a healing retreat for many.
Yet beneath this breathtaking landscape lies a great mystery: deep under the lake, more than 100 metres below the surface, rests a vast underwater ancient city.
Where did this mysterious site come from? Is the underwater city of Fuxian Lake really a relic of the ancient Dian Kingdom, or is there more to the story?
The sapphire on the plateau
Fuxian Lake is situated within Yuxi City in Yunnan, with a total area of 212 square kilometres.
It is the third-largest lake in Yunnan and also its deepest lake, reaching a maximum depth of 155 metres and an average depth of approximately 87 metres, enjoying great renown in the local area.
The water of this lake is exceptionally clear, with excellent quality belonging to the national Grade I category, and it has also been listed as a national strategic water resource reserve.
When viewed from above, Fuxian Lake resembles a crystal-clear sapphire, thus earning it the reputation of "The Sapphire on the Plateau".
On sunny days, the lake's surface glistens and the mountains are reflected in the water; the scenery is refreshing and healing, making it a holiday destination that countless tourists yearn to visit.
Fuxian Lake not only has outstanding scenery, but also a vast expanse of water, considerable depth, and an overall environment that is both tranquil and magnificent.
But what truly elevates it beyond an ordinary tourist lake and cloaks it in legend is the long-standing legend of an underwater ancient city.
Beneath the beautiful surface of the lake, what ancient ruins are buried in its deep waters? This unsolved mystery of Fuxian Lake has also made more and more people curious.
Read more: Trip to the top 4 popular attractions in Lijiang, Yunnan
What exactly is the underwater ancient city of Fuxian Lake?
In Yunnan, a folk song has been passed down since ancient times: "A stone dragon faces a stone tiger, with twenty-five thousand in gold. Whoever can solve the riddle, can buy half of Chengjiang Prefecture." This ballad describes the very underwater legend of Fuxian Lake.
Legend has it that a thousand-year-old ancient city lies sunken at the bottom of Fuxian Lake, rumoured to hold countless treasures within its walls. For hundreds and thousands of years, no one had managed to find it, adding a rich layer of legend to the lake, until 1992, when this ancient rumour was "confirmed".
That year, a diving enthusiast named Geng Wei, while diving in the waters off the northeastern shore of Fuxian Lake, accidentally discovered a large number of regular-shaped stone blocks scattered on the lakebed, which were suspected to be the ruins of man-made structures.
By 2006, archaeology teams had successively conducted two large-scale explorations, confirming the existence of a large stone building complex under Fuxian Lake with a total area of about 2.4 square kilometres, stretching approximately 2 kilometres from north to south.
When and by whom were these underwater ruins built? Some experts speculate that it could be the ancient city of Yuyuan from the Western Han Dynasty, recorded in historical texts, or the ruins of the capital of the ancient Dian Kingdom; others believe that it may not be a city, but a sacrificial site.
To this day, the underwater ruins of Fuxian Lake still lie quietly in the depths, are they a submerged ancient city, an ancient altar, or the remains of a civilisation never recorded in the annals of history?
Academic circles are still divided, and there is no unanimous conclusion.
This mystery has also become a unique charm of Fuxian Lake. As underwater archaeology technology matures, the truth may one day be revealed.
For now, this cluster of ancient buildings that has slept for a thousand years is still hidden beneath the emerald waters of Fuxian Lake, waiting for people to continue exploring.