Erpi River

Erpi River

The Erpi River in Hongxing, Yichun, cuts through high mountains and steep ridges, where the powerful sounds of pine trees fill the air and strange rocks are scattered everywhere. With a water width of 5 to 24 meters and a depth of 2 to 5 meters, the river water is crystal clear, featuring alternating fast and slow currents. Its ecological environment remains in its pristine state, making it one of the rare unpolluted rivers in China. Towering mountains on both banks compete in beauty, and the water surface is as smooth as a mirror, appearing greenish-blue — a result of sunlight refraction across the spectrum.

When the boat reaches the more turbulent sections of the river, the true skill of the “boat captain” comes into play. Using the paddle like an anchor, it’s like sailing through the Three Gorges — offering a uniquely thrilling and exhilarating experience. Steep cliffs and bizarrely shaped rocks on both sides resemble humans and animals, vivid and lifelike — a masterpiece of volcanic eruptions from 1.6 million years ago. “The boat sails in the middle of the stream while the green mountains move along the banks” dazzles the senses; it's not that the boat moves too fast, but rather that the landscape is too captivating to take in all at once.

The Hongxing Grand Platform area features seven rivers: the Kurbin River, Erpi River, Wulumu River, Kusitu River, Lipaku River, Xisigeli River, and Gelbile River. The Erpi River flows into the Kurbin River at the foot of Banla Mountain, and together they rush toward the Heilongjiang River. The mighty waters of the Heilongjiang carry the waves of the Erpi River. The Erpi River basin boasts rare volcanic landform landscapes, tectonic landform landscapes, water body landscapes, wetland landscapes, and forest landscapes in China. The geological heritage here exhibits naturalness, typicality, rarity, systematicity, integrity, beauty, scientific value, and numerous unresolved mysteries in geology and ecology, all of which hold extremely precious value worldwide.

The Erpi River basin is home to a wide variety of wild plants and many species of wildlife. According to incomplete statistics, there are 148 families and 786 species of wild plant communities, including 48 families and 138 species of bryophytes, 11 families and 38 species of ferns, and 88 families and 610 species of seed plants. The wildlife includes 346 species of birds and mammals. Among the mammals, there are 50 species in 16 families across 6 orders, such as black bears, red deer, moose, otters, and sables. The bird species include 221 species in 42 families, such as the scaly-sided merganser, red-crowned crane, white-naped crane, wild rhododendron, four-toned cuckoo, and thrush. Amphibians include 9 species in 5 families across 2 orders, such as the Siberian salamander, forest frog, dark-spotted frog, and spotless tree frog. Reptiles include 11 species in 4 families across 3 orders, such as the? eyebrow lizard, rain-spotted skink, and viviparous lizard. Fish species include 36 in 9 families, such as taimen and grayling. The Erpi River basin is a natural botanical garden, and its excellent ecological environment provides ideal habitats for wildlife, making it also a natural zoo.

Address: Hongxing District, Yichun City