The powerful Yangtze river has carved one of the deepest river gorges into the mountains north of Lijiang.
Tiger Leaping Gorge Chinese pinyin Hǔtiào Xiá is a canyon on the Yangtze River locally called the Golden Sands River Jīnshā Jiāng located 60 km north of Lijiang City Yunnan in southwestern China Around 15 km in length the gorge is located where the river passes between 5 596 metre Jade Dragon Snow Mountain Yùlóngxuĕ Shān and 5 396 m Haba Xueshan Hābā Shān in a series of rapids under steep 2000 metre cliffs Legend says that in order to escape from a hunter a tiger jumped across the river at the narrowest point still 25 metres wide hence the name Tiger Leaping Gorge is a contender for the world s deepest river canyon depending on the exact definition used citation needed The inhabitants of the gorge are primarily the indigenous Naxi people who live in a handful of small hamlets Their primary subsistence comes from grain production and foreign hikers The gorge is not considered navigable In the early 1980s four rafters attempted to go down the gorge and were never seen again In 1986 the first known successful attempt to sail through the gorge was made by the first expedition to float down the entire length of the Yangtze starting at the river s high source at the Gelandandong glacier lake
Size: 3354px × 5009px
Location: tiger Leaping gorge,Lijiang,Yunnan,China,Asia
Photo credit: © Yan Liao / Alamy / Afripics
License: Royalty Free
Model Released: Yes
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