Time for Richard Freeman again. It almost seems silly introducing Richard to you all once again when he makes an appearance as guest blogger several times a week. However, our viewing audience/ readers (whatever you like to call yourselves) is growing so fast that it is certain that some of you missed the last time I introduced him. Isn’t it odd how things work out? In a recent post I was bemoaning the fact that I could find hide nor hair of monster-haunted Lake Wembo in Tibet. Then Karl opens up an old atlas and finds it with the ease of locating his local corner shop.
Whilst pottering around on the Internet yesterday I found this site
http://english.people.com.cn/90001/90782/6713324.html
It lists five Chinese lakes where monsters have been seen and guess what is at number five! Yes: Lake Wembu / Wembo! No m
ention of the Wembu dragon eating yaks or fishermen is made but there is a nice picture. The article goes on to say…“Wenbu Lake lying in Kunzha County, China's Tibet Autonomous Region is at 4,535 meters above sea level with an area of 835 square kilometers. [sic] In the 1950s, a lake monster had been seen in Wenbu Lake, which had a small head, big eyes, long neck and grey and black skin. It is said that the body of the monster looks like an ox.”
Interestingly there are another couple of monster-haunted lakes in the article that I had not heard about.
“Shennongjia is situated in western Hubei Province, covering an area of over 3,000 square kilometers. [sic]Known as The Oriental Botanic Garden and the natural gene bank of biological species, it shelters some of the world' rare or endangered plants and animals, such as Chinese dove trees, South China tigers, white bears and white snakes. The lake monsters emerged in Changtan, a lake located in Shennongjia. More than 20 people have seen a giant water animal with similar characteristics: grey skin, oblate head, giant eyes and five toes on the forelimb.”
So as well as the yeren, Shennongjia has a resident dragon!
“Qinghai Lake is located in the north of Qinghai-Tibet Plateau in China. It is the largest landlocked lake in China. Its area is 4583 square kilometers. [sic] The elevation of Qinghai Lake is 3196 meters; depth is 32.8 meters. [sic] The lake water is azure. Several dozen people have already witnessed the lake monster, but the Qinghai Lake monster is still a mystery. In 1947, a lama saw a monster like a dragon swimming in the Qinghai Lake. In 1949, a peasant saw a monster with snake’s head in Qinghai Lake. The monsters scales glistened under the sunshine.”
That’s a new one on me. It’s always exciting to find new info and add another location to your list of places to visit. A tour of the monster lakes of China would make an amazing TV series!
