I Spent Three Days Near Fuxian Lake and Heard Five Different Theories About the Sunken City Beneath It

A Place Stranger Than Loch Ness

Most people have never heard of Fuxian Lake. It sits in Yunnan province in southwest China, a high-altitude lake over 150 meters deep in places. Beneath its surface lies the ruins of an ancient city — at least 2,000 years old. This is not legend. In 2001, China Central Television conducted a live underwater archaeological broadcast, and divers found stone-paved roads, wall foundations, and pottery fragments on the lakebed.

But how this city ended up underwater? Everyone I met around the lake told me a different story. From June 3rd to 5th, I stayed at a small guesthouse near the western shore. During the day, I walked the lake path. At night, I drank beer with locals and listened. I heard at least five distinct versions of what happened — some grounded in science, some in folklore, and one that made the hair on my arms stand up.

Version One: The Earthquake Theory

This is the most scientifically grounded version. An old fisherman named Yang told me that, according to the experts, a massive earthquake struck the Dian region during the Eastern Han dynasty around 2,000 years ago. The eastern shore of the lake collapsed entirely, and the city that stood there sank with it. Carbon dating of the underwater pottery and the road construction style both match this time period.

'There really is stuff down there,' Yang said, pulling in his fishing net. 'But it is not mysterious. Earthquake sank it. Simple.' He has been fishing this lake for forty years, and his net snags on the submerged stones all the time.

Version Two: The Lost Dian Kingdom

My guesthouse owner, Lao Zhao, was born in the lakeside village and his family has lived here for generations. Over a pot of Pu'er tea one evening, he told me a very different version.

'More than 2,000 years ago, this whole region belonged to the Dian Kingdom. Have you heard of it?' I had not. Sima Qian mentioned the Dian Kingdom briefly in the Records of the Grand Historian, but the entry is frustratingly short. The Dian people worshipped water, and their king called himself the 'Dian Lord', ruling from a lakeside capital.

'Some people believe the city under the lake was the Dian capital itself,' Zhao said. 'Look at the stone roads and wall foundations — that was not a village. That was a proper city.' He pointed toward the lake through the window. 'A kingdom that lasted over a thousand years, and the capital ended up underwater. If that is not mysterious, I do not know what is.'

Version Three: The Bodies That Do Not Float

At the tiny Fuxian Lake museum — a two-room building run by a recent university graduate — I learned something genuinely disturbing.

'Fuxian Lake is extremely deep. Over 150 meters at the deepest point, deeper than many seas. The water temperature at the bottom stays around 12 degrees Celsius year-round. And the lake lacks certain types of bacteria.' She paused. 'So when someone drowns here, the body does not decompose normally. It does not float to the surface. It stays at the bottom, in a standing position, drifting slowly — almost like it is still alive.'

I looked this up afterward. It is real. In 2010, divers found multiple human remains at the bottom of the lake, all in standing positions. They were fishermen and swimmers who had gone missing decades earlier. This has earned Fuxian Lake the deeply unsettling local nickname of 'the lake where the dead walk underwater.'

Version Four: The Alien Base Theory

This version came from a backpacker I met in the guesthouse courtyard one night. He was a self-described UFO enthusiast traveling around China visiting 'places with paranormal phenomena'.

'Look at the shape of Fuxian Lake on a satellite map,' he said, showing me his phone. 'It is an irregular ellipse. The entire basin looks like an impact crater.' He zoomed in. 'And at the center of the lake, there is a massive depression — a kind of funnel going down over 150 meters. The area around it is flat, like a runway. Geologists say it could be an ancient meteorite impact crater.'

'So what are you saying?' I asked. He lowered his voice dramatically: 'What if the city under the lake is not a human city at all? What if it is the remains of something that was here before us?'

I laughed. He looked genuinely offended. I did look up the geology later. Fuxian Lake is a tectonic lake overlaid with karst dissolution features, so the lakebed topography is unusually complex. The central 'funnel' might be a natural sinkhole connected to an underground river system. But could I convince the backpacker of that? Absolutely not.

Version Five: The One That Got Under My Skin

On my last evening, I met an old woman near the western shore. She was nearly eighty, had lived in a lakeside village her entire life, and had never left Yuxi prefecture.

She told me a story her grandfather's grandfather passed down. Long ago, the land where Fuxian Lake now sits was a prosperous city-state. The king offended the lake god, and the god decided to punish them. Not with a flood — but with a slow, deliberate sinking. Every morning the people woke up and found the ground a little lower. The front steps of their homes were one step shorter. The temple altar was a handspan closer to the earth.

'The lake god gave them a choice,' she said. 'Stay with the sinking city, or move to the mountains. Most people left. But the king refused. He said it was his city and he would not abandon it. So he and his palace sank together into the water.'

I asked if she believed the story. She smiled. 'When I was a girl, swimming in the lake in summer, I always felt like something was watching me from below. Could have been a fish. Could have been the king.'

What I Took Away

Three days by Fuxian Lake left me with complicated feelings about the place and its submerged mystery. Scientifically, the earthquake theory makes the most sense. Culturally, the lost Dian Kingdom version is the most captivating. For pure thrill, the alien base theory wins.

But the one that stays with me is the old woman's story. Not because I believe it — but because it captures something essential about Fuxian Lake. A feeling of immense secrets held just beneath a calm surface.

If you visit Yunnan, give Fuxian Lake two days of your itinerary. Skip the big tour groups. Find a small guesthouse on the western shore. Sit by the water at dusk. You will understand what I mean.