“The move does not respect the laws of nature nor the visitors.”
Gravity Falls
A video making the rounds on Douyin, China’s version of TikTok, unmasks a hidden pipe feeding what’s claimed to be the country’s tallest uninterrupted waterfall — an engineering trick seemingly designed to put on a show for visitors.
The clip, shared by a local hiker, shows a concrete-clad pipe pumping out copious amounts of water at the top of a tall cliff face.
Now that the cat’s out of the bag, officials at the Yuntai tourism park are in damage control mode, as the BBC reports, conceding that they had made a “small enhancement” to keep the Yuntain Mountain Waterfall running during the dry season — a bizarre and arguably unethical fudging of what’s meant to be a beautiful and entirely natural scene.
“I didn’t expect to meet everyone this way,” the park later wrote in a post, writing on behalf of the waterfall, as translated by the BBC. “As a seasonal scenery I can’t guarantee that I will be in my most beautiful form every time you come to see me.”
Pipe Dream
The 1,030-foot waterfall is located in the Yuntai Mountain Geopark in China’s central Henan province, where it’s visited by millions of travelers each year.
It’s not the only waterfall to get a little encouragement during the dry season. As CNN reports, the Huangguoshu Waterfall in southwest China is being propped up by a dam, allowing it to continue its flow year-round.
Users on China’s Weibo social media platform were divided after the hiker revealed the pipe feeding the Yuntai Falls.
“The move does not respect the laws of nature nor the visitors,” one user wrote.
“The main thing is that the water pipe is so crudely installed, others at least disguise it in a superior way,” another added.
Others were willing to give park operators a pass.
“I think it’s a good thing to do,” one Weibo user argued. “Otherwise people would be disappointed if they end up seeing nothing there.”
More on waterfalls: Spectators Find a Waterfall That Flows Upward in England
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