THE SIGN HUNTERS

CHINA: Yellow Mountain - Nine Dragons Waterfall

Written by Laszlo, 22 April 2023

The Yellow Mountain, also known in Chinese as Huangshan (黄山), is a mountain range and major tourist destination in southern Anhui Province (安徽省) in China. The Huangshan Mountain Range has many, characteristic peaks, some reaches higher than 1,000 meters (3,250 feet) above sea level. The three tallest and best-known peaks are Lotus Peak (莲花峰 Lianhuafeng, 1,864 m), Bright Peak (光明峰Guangmingding, 1,860 m) and Celestial Peak (天都峰 Tiandufeng, 1,829 m).

Huangshan was formed approximately 100 million years ago and gained its uniquely shaped granite peaks during the Quaternary Glaciation by the influence of glaciers.

The Huangshan Scenic Area (黄山风景区) has been recognised by the UNESCO World Heritage Convention and is listed among geoparks since 1990. It covers 16,060 ha land area.

The scenic area has at least 140 sections open to visitors. This article is about the Nine Dragon Waterfall (九龙瀑 Jiulongpu), which is located at the southeast corner of the park area, very near to the scenic area’s Southern Entrance Gate.

The Huangshan Nine Dragon Waterfall is a National 4-A Tourism Scenic Spot and is listed among the seven most famous waterfalls in China. The length of the waterfall is 600 metres, with a drop height of 360 metres. Every waterfall section has several turns with shorter drop sections and pools. Altogether, there are nine folds and, thus, nine pools, hence the name “Nine Dragons Waterfall”.

It is a unique waterfall in China due to its drop height and its geological structure; a glacial hanging valley waterfall with ice potholes scattering all over.

Our visit took place on a beautiful spring day in April, in 2023. We also met a huge white bear dog called Haha. And, of course, we could not miss out on “hunting“ the area’s mighty welcome sign.