Due to human activities over the last thousand years, the Xianghu Lake has become smaller and smaller and shrunk from the “Maitreya’s belly” to the “slender waist of a young girl”.

    Recently, the expansion plan for Xianghu Lake Tourism and Holiday Resort has passed the joint review by the government administrative office, development and reform committee, state-owned land administration department, environmental-protection department and tourism bureau of Zhejiang Province. As a key part of the expansion plan, an additional area of 2.4 km2 will be excavated in Xianghu Lake Project Phase 3, and the overall protection and development work will be finished before Oct. 1, 2016.