(Foto por Wang Shibao/Xinhua)

(Xinhua/Du Yu)

(Xinhua/Zhang Duan)

(Xinhua)

(Xinhua/Du Yu)

(Xinhua/Zhang Duan)

(Xinhua)

(Xinhua)

(Xinhua/Du Yu)

(Foto por Ye Yuting/Xinhua)

(Xinhua/Liu Junxi)

(Xinhua/Liu Junxi)

(Foto por Wang Shibao/Xinhua)

(Foto por Song Yanjun/Xinhua)

Combo photo shows a view of a reed wetland around the Chaohu Lake on Sept. 6, 2022 (upper, Xinhua/Liu Junxi) and workers planting reeds around the Chaohu Lake in Hefei City, east China's Anhui Province, April 6, 2010 (Xinhua). As the fifth-largest freshwater lake in China, Chaohu Lake is known as the "kidney" of the Yangtze River.

In recent years, Hefei City, where Chaohu Lake is located, has taken a slew of measures to strengthen the protection of wetlands around the lake, including banning fishing, land reclamation and waste dumping in designated protected zones.

Changes are happening around this freshwater lake, with more rare and endangered species inhabiting its surrounding wetlands. (Xinhua)