Water samples were taken from Lake Dianchi, on the Yungui Plateau of southwest China, and experiments were conducted to simulate the photochemical degradation characteristic of chromophoric dissolved organic matter (CDOM) in the lake water. Three groups of experiments under different light conditions: ultraviolet (UV) light, visible light, and dark, were done and variations of fluorescence properties, UV absorbance, and dissolved organic carbon (DOC) concentrations during the experiments were analyzed to study the photodegradation process of CDOM with time. The result showed that light irradiation led to significant photochemical degradation of CDOM, resulting in changes in florescent properties, absorbance losses, decreases in aromaticity and average molecular weight, as well as decline in DOC concentration in the water. It was also observed that UV irradiation had greater effect than visible light did. However, various fluorophores had different sensitivities to the same irradiation condition, that is, protein-like fluorophore at the low excitation wavelengths is more sensitive to UV irradiation than the other fluorophores, and is more readily to undergo photo-degradation. In addition, visible light irradiation did not have significant impact on DOC in the water, with DOC concentration decrease by 5.57% –59.9% during the experiment time. These results may provide new knowledge on the environment behavior of CDOM in the water of Lake Dianchi.