If the beauty of Guilin's mountains and water and the steep precipices of the Three Gorges on the Yangtze River are merged into one that will be a more than beautiful and majestic picture. lf traveler come to Yansai Lake in the canyon of the deep mountains west of Shanhaiguan Pass, he will be in the picture mentioned above.
    Yansai Lake is also called the Shihe Reservoir where Li Zicheng, the leader of the peasants' uprising, led 200,000 soldiers to fight against Wu Sangui, a regional commander, and the Qing General Duoergun at the end of the Ming Dynasty. During the Beiyang Government Period two Zhi-Feng wars took place. In January 1933, He Zhuguo, a patriot leader, fought bravely against the Japanese invaders. After the founding of New China, the Shanhaiguan people built dams, and Yansai Lake was completed in 1972. The Shihe Reservoir is located beside an ancient fort with clear and clean water just like a bright pearl in Mount Yan, thus getting its name of “Yansai Lake”.
    Along Yansai Lake stand various-shaped precipices, natural scenery, green pines and wild apricot trees, which look more than beautiful reflecting in the water. Wu Zuoren, a famous contemporary calligrapher and painter, composed such a poem:“Natural beauty is less than what people make. Mountain Yan is more majestic than a clear lake. Great water falls from the dams above. Below is a l,000-peak lake people love.” In the Yansai Lake scenic area there is a Birds Singing Forest where more than 100 species of birds, like black geese and red-crowned cranes, sing and fly freely.