On the Jinsha River, a significant tributary of the upper Yangtze River, is a beautiful canyon called Tiger Leaping Gorge.
It is situated in southwest China, 60 kilometers north of Lijiang City in Yunnan. It is a portion of the protected area known as the Three Parallel Rivers of Yunnan.
The name, according to legend, was given to the river by a hunted tiger who managed to cross it by jumping across a rock in the middle of the river at its narrowest point.
Tiger Leaping Gorge is one of the world’s largest and most beautiful river canyons, reaching a maximum depth of about 3,790 meters (12,434 feet) from river to mountain peak.
It isn’t thought to be navigable through the gorge. Four rafters made an attempt to descend the gorge at the beginning of the 1980s but never returned.
The entire gorge can be hiked. The Naxi use the hiking trail, known as “the high road,” despite it occasionally being narrow and occasionally impassable due to heavy rains.
The lower road, which travels through the Gorge for about 195 km from Qiaotou, is a patch of pavement that is frequently plagued by rockslides and passes several waterfalls.
The Three Parallel Rivers of Yunnan are an integral part of the World Heritage but the Chinese government floated plans for a hydroelectric dam on the Jinsha River.