World Natural Heritage: Jiuzhaigou Valley Scenic and Historic Interest Area (5)

Various forms of waterscape showcase beauty of the landscapes

The landscape in Jiuzhaigou includes many sorts of sights such as lakes, waterfalls, lacustrine beaches and springs. There are lakes that connect with each other and lakes that are separate. Some lakes are vast and mighty while some are small but beautiful. Some lakes are noted for their inverted reflections and some are famous for their colors. The widest waterfall is more than 300 meters wide and the highest is nearly 80 meters high. The most spectacular waterfall looks like the Milky Way falling from the sky and the most soft and flowing looks like flowers being sprinkled by the heavenly fairies. Some beaches are like a range of bonsai while some are like splashed pearls. Jiuzhaigou is a congregation of water forms, water colors, water shapes and water sounds, and includes all the beautiful waterscapes in the world.

The beautiful waterscapes in Jiuzhaigou have proper proportion, smart compositions, shapely lines and lively rhythm, and form beautiful pictures in every perspective and view. Landscape factors such as mountains and forests melt with the waterscapes to form the best creative source for painters, writers and photographers. Therefore, Jiuzhaigou has become a creative theme of Chinese movies and television programs.

The splendid mountains and water in Jiuzhaigou enhance each other's beauty and gather the beauty of colors, the beauty of forms, and the beauty of sound to form a multi-level and multi-faceted natural picture. The beauty of the entire Jiuzhaigou is considered as “natural beauty and beautiful in a natural way.” People will be intoxicated in this most beautiful enjoyment of the coordination of vision, hearing and feeling when travelling Jiuzhaigou.

The five great wonders of Jiuzhaigou

Green lakes

The water is the soul of the Jiuzhaigou Valley. The lakes in the valley are especially distinctive. The water of the lakes is completely clear all the year round, and the color and appearance of the water always changes as the sunlight and the seasons change. Some lakes look graceful and elegant, some look fierce and vigorous, and some look peaceful and quiet. On windless days, you will be able to see the complete reflections of the blue sky, white clouds, mountains faraway, and trees nearby. You can never tell whether the things under and above the water surface are real or an illusion. Some lakes have colorful water, which is jointly created by the sunshine, algae and the sediments at the bottom of the lakes. The light yellow, dark green, red-brown, deep red and emerald green colors constituted many geometric figures which are lustrous and dazzling. The water surface of the lakes looks like pieces of colorful silk that are changing their colors all the time. Sometimes, some lakes would look like a burning sea when their waves are illuminated by the sunshine, and sometimes, the long reefs of calcium compounds at the bottom of some lakes would look like swimming dragons. There are over 100 distinctive lakes in the valley, and all of them have been surrounded and decorated with trees and flowers by nature. The lakes are connected together through streams and waterfalls, and they look like a series of distinctive emeralds stringed with silver chains and white silk.

Multi-layer waterfalls

The waterfalls are an outstanding waterscape and an excellent work of nature. The Jiuzhaigou Valley is a world of water and also a kingdom of waterfalls. The streams run out of the forests fiercely and drop fast. They are like green machines of different sizes that are ceaselessly producing white silk. The Nuorilang Waterfall is the widest waterfall in China. Rushing off the green cliff, the powerful and splendid waterfall looks like a tremendous door curtain. Some water currents dash on the rocks several times, and then, multi-layer waterfalls will form. They sound like thousands of running horses and look like a group of jumping silver dragons. Because of the early morning sunlight, fascinating rainbows will often appear beside the waterfall, which always deeply attracts tourists and make them forget to go home.