Ru Qin Lake is a firn basin, a place where glacial ice accumulates. When the climate changed, the basin became a pond. Da Lin Temple was built by its side. Bai Ju Yi, a Tang Dynasty poet, wrote the poem “Da Lin Temple Peach Blossom”, which is still popular today. In 1961 people built a dam on the glacial spillway. It formed a man-made lake in the shape of a lute, a Chinese musical instrument. At night, the waters from the hills flow down into the lake and people say it sounds like the plucking from a lute.