Abstract: Recently more attention has been increasingly paid to the role of lake buffering zones in the lake protection and the basin management. Lake buffer zone is an isolation niche regarding to the lake protection, since it is a space for avoiding or alleviating the damage, interference and pollution from different types of human activities or natural processes. Three main functions of the lake buffering zone are buffering, improving ecological environment, and implementing special environmental economic policy and ecological compensation. Four important factors for determining the optimal width of lake buffer zone are proposed as (1) ecological environmental objectives and standards for admittance, (2) status of ecological environment, (3) technical and economic limits and (4) constraints from social and management system. Three principles for ecological construction and restoration of lake buffer zones are suggested as combining pollution source control and ecological restoration, combining natural recovery and artificial enhancement, and combining ecological construction and ecological management. The main technical system is composed of non-point source pollution control and buffer system improvement. Three aspects of lake buffering management were suggested:(1) determination of environmental access standards and industrial structure requirement,(2) long-term operation of ecological construction and (3) establishment of environmental economic policies and ecological compensation. The study on lake buffer zone will be focused on setting a reasonable width of lake buffer zone in the future, by introducing suitable ecological models and establishing a long-term operation and management mechanism.