Excess external nutrient loading in shallow lakes often causes eutrophication, leading to a regime shift from a clear-water state dominated by submerged macrophytes to a turbid phytoplankton-dominated state. This shift can result in toxic algal blooms, unpleasant odors, and significant loss of ecosystem services, including the potability of lake water. The first step to combat eutrophication is to reduce the external nutrient loading, but this alone does not necessarily result in rapid restoration of the clear-water state. Resistance to recovery can be both chemical and biological. Chemical resistance mainly stems from phosphorus (P) release from a sediment pool accumulated during past high P loading periods. Biological resistance can be due to slow responses to reduced external nutrient loading by fish and submerged macrophytes. Biomanipulation aims to overcome biological resistance and speed up the recovery of shallow eutrophic lakes. Researches have shown that fish removal and submerged marcophyte transplantation can enhance the recovery of eutrophic shallow lakes. A large-scale (4 hectare) restoration experiment in Lake Yanglan, a shallow eutrophic lake in subtropical China, demonstrated that application of lanthanum-modified bentonite and polyaluminium chloride (overcome the chemical resistance) after fish removal, followed by transplantation of submerged macrophytes can restored a clear-water state successfully. However, in monsoon climates, summer precipitation can boost external nutrient loading, while high water temperatures increase internal nutrient loading from sediment release. These seasonal changes collectively could enhance the growth of phytoplankton and periphyton, and subsequently reduce submerged macrophyte growth via light inhibition and threaten the stability of a clear-water state, which needs to be addressed in future long-term studies in monsoon climate zones.