Tears Beach Double Moons

Tears Beach Double Moons

In the middle reaches of the Le’an River, about 18 kilometers from the city center, upstream of Lianhu Islet in Jiadu Town, there lies a mountain lying beside the river. Shaped like a tiger, it is called Tiger Mountain. The river bends around the mountain, forming a deep pool known as Tiger Mountain Pool. Because of a poignant and moving story of a filial daughter that once took place on the sands of Tiger Mountain Pool, it later came to be known as Tears Beach. A thousand-year-old ancient village by the beach was also named after it — Tears Beach Village.

On every Mid-Autumn night, when the moon is bright and the breeze is gentle, two radiant moons shine simultaneously in Tiger Mountain Pool at the foot of Tiger Mountain, during the midnight of the full moon. The moons reflected in the water appear and disappear, come together and drift apart — sometimes like two playful children teasing each other, hiding and seeking until they vanish, then suddenly showing their smiling faces again in the water; sometimes like two beauties chasing butterflies, fluttering and gathering together before joyfully scattering apart. Viewing the moon in the water is a common sight, but seeing two moons at once in the water is an extremely rare phenomenon. The way the two distinct moon images in the water collide, vanish, and then reappear, cycling endlessly, is truly magical and can be considered a wonder through the ages. This spectacular sight is one of the famous “Ten Scenic Spots of Leping” — the “Tears Beach Double Moons.”

According to experts, the formation of the double moons is a natural phenomenon of optical refraction. The river water is blocked by protruding rocks, creating an upward backflow. This backflow forms two different sloping surfaces with the downward-flowing water. Therefore, when the moon is directly overhead, the water on these two different slopes refracts two images of the moon. As the water flow on the two sloping surfaces shifts due to changes in force, the boundary line between them constantly moves left and right, causing the two moons to sometimes come together and sometimes drift apart, appearing and disappearing intermittently.