An underwater old city - Lion City, Qiandao Lake
Lion City was built in Dong Han (25 – 200 ), setup as county in 208, named "Lion City" because "Wu Shi mountain ( Five Lion Mountain )" which sits just behind of the city.
In September 1959, the Xin Anjiang Dam which was designed by the Chinese began construction to create a reservoir, 290,000 people were relocated from the city which they've lived for over one thousand years. The reservoir was designed to flood any area below an altitude of 108m above sea level putting Lion city at 30-40m underwater.
In February 2002, CCTV and other few companies started a big research to locate a lost Ancient historical treasure, the underwater city, they used sonar to survey the area of Lion City, and sent divers in to conduct first hand research of the area.
They uncovered the intact wall that runs around the exterior of the city in a circular pattern, Pai Fang - an administrative division and subdivision of ancient Chinese citys (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paifang) and lots of traditional Chinese buildings, many of which were constructed in the Ming and Qing dynasty.
The above information is a collection of information we've collected over the years from various sources and compiled, it may not be exact.
On Big Blues exploratory dives we went in two groups, both groups traveled in different directions and found different buildings, our depth was 22-24 meters with most of the dive site flat, we saw two different Pai Fang's which had in it carved deers, lions, phoenix, kylin and many more, one was 7-8meters call and both contained traditional characters which read "Xiao" and "Jie" which we presume are a tribute.
This was our first dive where we were able to uncover the city but not the first dive for the city, many more dives are required to get a good overview and map the area, so, for now, we are calling any dive on this site an "Exploratory Dive".
Dive type: Boat/Shore dive
Bottom: Muddy - Sloping bottom
Visibility: 3-8m
Maximum depth: 25meters (Dry season: December-May)
Current: none
Bottom temperature: 8-10C all year round
Surface temperature: 11-32c
Running date: April to November
Level: *Advanced Openwater Divers experienced in deep, night and buoyancy
Equipment: a semi-dry suit is necessary, a dry suit is recommended for those with training.
Highlight: Underwater City - Lion City
[ 2008-04-05 ]
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