Location
Jiuzhaigou County, Aba Prefecture, Sichuan
Snow mountains, colored forests, tiered waterf...
Snow mountains, colored forests, tiered waterfalls and azure lakes interwoven — the most dreamlike canvas of nature's palette. Jiuzhaigou's system of 108 alpine lakes (haizi in Tibetan), waterfall groups and travertine shoals is without equal in the world; here water itself is the protagonist. Listed as World Natural Heritage in 1992, it is called "a fairy-tale world."
Jiuzhaigou sits on karst carbonate strata; its snowmelt is rich in calcium carbonate, which slowly precipitates as travertine on lakebeds and shoals. The selective absorption of different wavelengths of light by travertine, algae and submerged plants on the bed of Five-Flower Lake makes one sheet of water shift between peacock blue, jade green and pale yellow; the travertine "coral" crusting the fallen logs beneath glitters like gemstone in the sun. Here water is not just scenery — it is itself the geologic wonder.
The reserve forms a "Y" of three valleys: Rize Valley holds the essence — Five-Flower Lake is hailed as "the eye of Jiuzhaigou," and Pearl Shoal Falls appeared in the title sequence of the 1986 Journey to the West; Nuorilang Falls, 270 meters wide, is China's widest alpine travertine waterfall; in Zechawa Valley, Long Lake at 3,101 meters is Jiuzhaigou's largest lake; in Shuzheng Valley the tiered lakes string like prayer beads, with Tibetan villages and prayer flags among them.
瑶池本是在人间，堪笑凡夫安学仙。 — "The Jade Pool was in the mortal world all along; laugh at ordinary men who study to become immortals."—— Qing-dynasty inscription on Jiuzhaigou, author unknown
The name "Jiuzhaigou" — Nine Village Valley — comes from nine Tibetan villages in the valleys; Shuzheng, Heye and Zechawa villages are still inhabited, and the temple bells and prayer flags of Zharu Monastery carry on Bon and Tibetan Buddhist tradition. The magnitude-7.0 earthquake of August 8, 2017 damaged many features; after scientific ecological restoration, Sparkling Lake and others have come back to life — the rebirth of a fairy-tale world has itself become a model in the history of World Heritage conservation.