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Imagine going somewhere like Niagara Falls, or Angel Falls, or some other world-famous waterfall with UNESCO Site status or similar accreditation. Moved by the epic beauty of the falls, you try hiking as close to them as you possibly can- only to discover that the famous waterfall is actually fed by a pipe. Sounds crazy, right?
Strange as such a scenario might seem, that's exactly what's playing out right now at a northern Chinese tourist destination. A hiker exploring Yuntai Waterfall, the tallest waterfall in China, discovered that the water was actually pouring from a pipe near the top. The story already starts on a bizarre note, but things only got weirder from there.
@dailymail Replying to @fbombinabox Chinese officials have been forced to apologize after a hiker found a secret waterpipe supplying China's tallest waterfall. Millions of tourists visit the 1024ft-tall waterfall every year, drawn in by the ancient geological formations that date back more than a billion years. 🎥Jam Press/GoogleEarth #waterfall #china #mystery #fake #water #plumbing #pipe
♬ Clumsy Shock - DJ BAI
Imagine you're a park official working at the Yuntai Mountain Geopark, a major Chinese tourist attraction that draws in millions of visitors every year. The 1,024-foot-high Yuntai Waterfall, your park's central attraction, has just been exposed by a hiker for being fed by a pipe, and their video evidence is going viral on Chinese social media. How do you address this bizarre controversy? Well, according to @dailymail , the Yuntai park officials took a strange but somewhat endearing approach- they wrote a letter from the perspective of the waterfall.
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A Mostly-Natural Landmark 'Speaks' Out
After the Yuntai Falls pipe video garnered millions of views online, the Yuntai Mountain tourism officials released a public statement from the falls' perspective (parts of which were translated by The Washington Post ). Essentially, the, uh, "waterfall" explained that while its majestic cascades are usually natural, the pipe was added to enhance its flow during the dry season.
"Depending on the season, I cannot guarantee that I am in my best condition whenever my friends come to see me," the statement read. "To make your experience of the journey more complete and to make you feel that t's a worthwhile trip, I underwent a small enhancement so that I could meet my friends in better shape in the dry season." Man... beauty standards are so unattainable these days that even natural landmarks need cosmetic enhancement!
Other famous waterfalls in China have been "assisted" through artificial means before. BBC reported that since 2006, the famous Huangguoshu Waterfall in Guizhou province has had water diverted to it by a local dam to help maintain its flow through the dry season. The Yuntai situation is a little thornier, though, because as The Washington Post notes, the Yuntai Mountain Park is one of 213 UNESCO Global Geoparks , which are "single, unified geographical areas where sites and landscapes of international geological significance are managed with a holistic concept of protection, education and sustainable development." WaPo reportedly reached out to UNESCO to comment on whether the pipe enhancement breached conservation guidelines, but UNESCO did not immediately respond.
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