Tiger Leaping Gorge

It has another name as "Jinsha Pi Liu"(Splitting the Jinsha River). It stands in the south-east of Zhongdian County and north of Lijiang County, just on the section of the Jinsha River between the Haba Snow Mountains and the Yulong Snow Mountains,105 km away from Zhongdian County, and 100 km away from Dayan Town in Lijiang County. The Tiger Leaping Gorge is famous in the world for its majesty and grotesquery.

The Tiger Leaping Gorge is a ravine of 20 kilometers long which is formed by the corroding (undercutting) of the Jinsa River here. The whole gorge is divided into the Upper Gorge, the Middle Gorge, and Lower Gorge.The altitude at the valley bottom is 1,800 meters, while the Yulong Snow Mountains and the Haba Snow Mountains are 5,596 m and 5,96 m above sea level, with the largest difference in altitude being more than 3,700 m, and the depth of the valley is in the front rank in the world.

The Tiger Leaping Gorge is not only deep but also narrow. The narrowest point at the Upper Gorge is only a bitover 20 meters.Right in the middle of the river there is a tiger-leaping stone. It is said that once a tiger jumped across the valley with the help of this stone.Thus, the place got its name. Shooting rapids are cut apart by the huge stone and the splashing water makes a roaring upsurge, creating a fantastic view.

Lijiang Tour Sights