Memory and Forgetfulness of the Flood: Meaning and Nostalgia in Thousand Island Lake (Qiandaohu), China

Islands are often associated with sites of memory, forgetting, and nostalgia. People find islands in the world and imbue them with social and cultural meaning. Drawing upon studies of islands as sites of memory and forgetting, and taking the case of Thousand-Island Lake (Qiandaohu) in Zhejiang, China, this paper argues that it is important to denaturalise island geographies when considering the social and cultural roles they play. Thousand-Island Lake is a result of the construction of Xin’anjiang Dam and Reservoir in 1958-1962, which flooded Chun’an Valley, submerging Lion City and transforming the surrounding mountain peaks into lake islands. Having developed into a tourist destination in the 1980s, Thousand-Island Lake has become a site for nostalgic heritage. The submergence of Lion City at the bottom of the lake has saved it from the fate of so many modernised Chinese cities and paradoxically made it emotionally accessible for nostalgic memorialisation. Dragon Mountain Island and Honey Mountain Island have accrued new meanings as islanded heritage sites, while numerous other lake islands have been given narrow and changeable tourist-oriented themes. The need for connection with a reconstructed past and the requirements of the tourism industry have been important for the formation of islands as islands in Thousand-Island Lake.