476
submitted 3 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

A controversy over a waterfall has cascaded into a social media storm in China, even prompting an explanation from the water body itself.

A hiker posted a video that showed the flow of water from Yuntai Mountain Waterfall - billed as China's tallest uninterrupted waterfall - was coming from a pipe built high into the rock face.

The clip has been liked more than 70,000 times since it was first posted on Monday. Operators of the Yuntai tourism park said that they made the "small enhancement" during the dry season so visitors would feel that their trip had been worthwhile.

"The one about how I went through all the hardship to the source of Yuntai Waterfall only to see a pipe," the caption of the video posted by user "Farisvov" reads.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[-] [email protected] 5 points 3 months ago

I had no idea. That is kinda disappointing lol

[-] [email protected] 31 points 3 months ago

Only if you ignore WHY it has the ability to do that. The reason is the hydroelectric power plant, or more specifically the construction of the plant, required that they divert the falls for a couple years a LONG time ago. They have maintained the capacity to divert the flow of the river to ensure that they are able to perform maintenance on the plant and the various national park infrastructures around the falls. The seasonal diversions are usually to perform said maintenance as well as to protect parts of the power plant from freezing. It is actually one of the great engineering marvals of the early 20th century.

[-] [email protected] 6 points 3 months ago

Thanks for the context - that's fascinating.

[-] [email protected] 2 points 3 months ago

Ya thanks for the interesting POV. I'll try to look at it from that angle when I finally make it out over there.

[-] [email protected] 10 points 3 months ago

It is, but they're still really beautiful. The area is a big tourist trap, but the falls themselves are worth it.

[-] [email protected] 2 points 3 months ago

I'd definitely still love to see it one day. And now at least that won't catch me off guard lol.

[-] [email protected] 5 points 3 months ago
[-] [email protected] 4 points 3 months ago

It's hard to describe why, but you visit that kind of place to see the wonders of nature and all that. Still, I'll keep in mind that other person's comment about the great feat of engineering it required.

[-] [email protected] 2 points 3 months ago

Not even that it took a lot of work to make diversion possible, but also that what you're seeing is, if anything, a slightly reduced version of the original, natural falls. The same river is going over the same spot it did originally, there is just infrastructure now that allows it to go elsewhere when the hydro dam that is also on the river needs maintenance.

this post was submitted on 06 Jun 2024
476 points (97.6% liked)

World News

38558 readers
2643 users here now

A community for discussing events around the World

Rules:

We ask that the users report any comment or post that violate the rules, to use critical thinking when reading, posting or commenting. Users that post off-topic spam, advocate violence, have multiple comments or posts removed, weaponize reports or violate the code of conduct will be banned.

All posts and comments will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. This means that some content that violates the rules may be allowed, while other content that does not violate the rules may be removed. The moderators retain the right to remove any content and ban users.


Lemmy World Partners

News [email protected]

Politics [email protected]

World Politics [email protected]


Recommendations

For Firefox users, there is media bias / propaganda / fact check plugin.

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/media-bias-fact-check/

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS