Baishuitai, a Frozen “Waterfall”

Baishuitai, or White Water Terrace, another famous tourist attraction, lies in Baidi Village, 100 kilometers from Shangri-La. From afar, Baishuitai appears to be a waterfall of many layers. On closer examination, you find it is a limestone terrace.

Through decomposition caused by sunlight, calcium bicarbonate in water breaks down into calcium carbonate. Through deposition, solidification and crystallization over 200,000 to 300,000 years, the minerals in the water have accumulated to form a marble-white terrace-like carbide physiognomy.

Baishuitai is cradle of the Naxi people and their Dongba religion. This ethnic minority group lived in the region as early as 20,000 years ago, leaving behind cliff paintings which display the formation of Dongba hieroglyphs. Legend recounts that the founder of the Dongba religion was attracted by the beauty of Baishuitai, and settled here to preach. Also on the mountain is a cave where the second-generation religious leader meditated.

Tiger Leaping Gorge

The Jinsha River flows side by side with the Lancang and Nujiang rivers down from their source, Mt. Tanggula at the border of Qinghai and Tibet. In Yunnan’s Lijiang, however, the Jinsha deviates from the others and turns eastward. It then passes between the daunting duo – the Yulong and Haba Snow Mountains – unleashing all its energy to create one of the world’s deepest canyons – Tiger Leaping Gorge.

The landscape around the Tiger Leaping Gorge is truly stunning. Steep peaks are aligned in close vicinity on both banks, at many points reducing the sight of the sky into a narrow slot. Below them the river resembles a dragon in the rapids splashing through the rocks with a deafening roar.

The gorge is divided into three segments: the upper, middle and lower “Tiger Leaps.” The first section is the narrowest, with the entire river confined to a 20-meter width. In the middle of the water rises a 13-meter-high monolith. Folklore says that a tiger used this rock as a stepping stone to leap across from one side of the river to the other – hence its name. In the rainy season the river pours down the rock and forms a waterfall, whereas in the dry season the rock divides the flowing water.

The Jinsha River represents the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, which flows through 11 provinces and municipalities. The longest river in China and the third longest in the world, the Yangtze nurtured the Chinese civilization together with the Yellow River.

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