Shiliang Waterfall Scenic Area

Shiliang Waterfall Scenic Area

Located 22 kilometers north of the county town in Tiantai Mountain, the scenic area covers an area of 6.5 square kilometers. Shiliang Waterfall embodies the wonders of landscapes from across the world.

Descending from the western entrance, you enter the verdant valley of the Golden and Silver Streams. Walking along the stream, you’ll find lush mountains, towering ancient trees, oddly shaped rocks everywhere, and striking peaks jutting out—a perfect destination where the scenery changes with every step and beauty greets the eye at every turn.

The verdant valley stretches over 1,800 meters, featuring famous sights such as “The Rhinoceros Gazing at the Moon,” “The Monk in Meditation,” “The Thousand-Year Sleeping Lion,” “The Ten-Thousand-Year Turtle and Elephant,” the pristine Sweetgum Forest, “The Bathing Pool of the Enlightened,” and many other beautiful views.

[Shiliang Waterfall]

Ascend to the Waterfall Viewing Pavilion, the spot where Xu Xiake once admired the falls, and a breathtaking sight unfolds before you. A waterfall cascades down in three tiers from the sky, while a natural stone beam spans the air high above—an awe-inspiring spectacle. The beam is about 7 meters long and less than a foot wide, resembling the arched spine of a dragon, stretching across the cliffs of two mountains. It’s a marvel of nature, rarely seen in this world.

Here, the Golden Stream and the Daxingkeng Stream converge, plunging straight down to form a waterfall with a drop of over 30 meters and a width of more than 10 meters. During heavy rains, the torrent crashes over the beam, surging with tremendous force and sounding like thunder, reaching the pinnacle of grandeur and magnificence. Ancient poets described Shiliang Waterfall with the phrase, “Three thousand zhang of ice and snow, twelve hours of wind and thunder,” illustrating its majestic presence.

About 50 meters upstream from the Shiliang, there is a waterfall shaped like a dragon’s tail, echoing the stone beam that resembles a coiled dragon. Together they blend seamlessly, resembling a divine dragon flicking its tail—an extraordinary landscape that sparks the imagination.

Beside Shiliang Waterfall stands Fangguang Temple. The Lower Fangguang Temple, located below the left side of the waterfall base, belongs to the Tiantai Sect. Surrounded by dense woods and bamboo groves, it is regarded as a sacred site for the Five Hundred Arhats. The temple now houses carved statues of the Five Hundred Arhats. Other attractions include:

[Fahua Morning Light]

Turning right at the confluence of the Golden and Silver Streams and walking about 200 meters upstream along the Silver Stream, you’ll find a giant stone seal inscribed with the four characters “Fahua Morning Light.” This is the largest stone seal in China and is being prepared for submission to the China Guinness Book of Records. Approximately 100 meters from the seal is a teapot-shaped waterfall commonly known as the Little Bronze Kettle, which bears a strong resemblance to the nearby Big Bronze Kettle to the east.

[Bronze Kettle Dripping]

Traveling 3.5 kilometers eastward from Shiliang, you’ll come across a kettle-shaped waterfall formed by a geological fissure. The kettle is 15 meters high and 7 meters in diameter, with smooth walls of copper-colored rock. The water pours into the kettle, swirling around before shooting out from a crevice that resembles a spout, falling into a deep pool below. The scene resembles the dripping of an ancient water timing device—the “bronze kettle”—hence the name “Bronze Kettle Dripping.”

[Dragon Swimming Stream]

A few hundred meters downstream from the Bronze Kettle Dripping lies a natural stone gully about ten meters long and over a foot wide, wider at the top and narrower at the bottom, resembling the body of a swimming dragon. When the water flows rapidly, it sprays dozens of meters high, like a white dragon leaping into the sky—an impressive sight known as “Dragon Swimming Stream.”

[Pearl Curtain Spring Water]

Next to the gully, a waterfall about 40 meters high cascades down the cliff, like a white silk ribbon hanging from the rock face or thousands of strands of silver beads, forming a delicate, rollable curtain of water droplets. The renowned scholar Qi Zhaonan of the Qing Dynasty called it “Pearl Curtain Spring Water.”

Admission: 60 RMB

Transport

Buses from North Bus Station, Guoqing Temple, and Gaoming Temple all head to the area.