A famous waterfall in China has drawn even more attention than usual – after a video revealed that its majestic falls may be artificially supplied by a water pipe.
The Yuntai Waterfall is located in Yuntai Mountain Park, a major tourist attraction in China’s north-central Henan province. The park has an AAAAA rating – the highest given to a tourist attraction by the country’s Ministry of Culture and Tourism.
But the source of the water, described by the park’s website as “like the Milky Way flying down,” has come under scrutiny. A video posted on Chinese social media this week appears to show a pipe supplying water to the 314-meter-tall (1,030-foot) falls – suggesting their source may not be as all-natural as visitors had been led to believe.
Yuntai Mountain Park’s management responded to the video, explaining how changes in the dry season necessitated the extra boost to the falls.
“(The waterfall) cannot guarantee to meet the public in its most beautiful appearance due to season changes,” they said, adding that the waterfall underwent “a tiny improvement during dry season.”
The park’s management also expressed gratitude for the attention, promising that the waterfall would greet guests this summer in its “most perfect and most natural form.”
While the video shocked many people in China, others on social media applauded the park’s response.
“The source of a waterfall is not what people came to see anyway, I don’t think it counts as lying to the public” said one Weibo user.
“You are there to see a peacock flaunting his tail, not to focus on the peacock’s butt,” said another.
Yuntai is not the first waterfall in China to need a little extra help. The country’s monsoon climate makes it a challenge to keep the water flowing during dry seasons, which see less rainfall.
The Huangguoshu Waterfall, located in China’s southwestern Guizhou province also suffered in the dry season. In 2004, a dam was built to make sure it would continue to flow.
At the time, the province applauded the dam, saying it would “put an end to the history of Huangguoshu Waterfall drying up.”
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