Key Places - China - Yunnan

Glorious Yunnan

Tiger Leaping Gorge

Tiger Leaping Gorge is one of the worlds’ deepest and most spectacular river valleys.  The inhabitants of the gorge are primarily the indigenous Naxi people, who live in a handful of small hamlets. Their primary subsistence comes from agriculture and tourism as the valley has a very popular hiking route and tour trail.

For a stretch of approximately  15 km long the unnavigable dramatic rapids of the Yangtze river flow through the gorge,  flanked by the towering  Jade Dragon Snow Mountain and  Haba Snow Mountain.  The legend behind the valley's name has it, that a  tiger a jumped across the river at its narrowest point (still 25 metres wide) where a boulder rises out of the waters, to escape a hunter.