Qianya Gorge

Qianya Gorge

Qianya Gorge is located on the Tuoniang River, which flows through Nongwa Yao Ethnic Township in Tianlin County. It can be reached by traveling about 700–800 meters upstream from Zhoma Village in Nongwa Yao Ethnic Township. Also known as "Mandarin Duck Gorge," its local name is "Neiqian." In the Zhuang language, "qian" means "steep." At its most perilous point, the river splits into two channels: the right branch, about 1 meter wide, is called "Qianbu" (male), which has reefs but is navigable; the left branch, about 3 meters wide, is called "Qianya" (female), which is also navigable. The gorge takes its name from the wider, navigable left branch. The gorge stretches 1.5 kilometers in length, with cliff walls rising steeply on both sides. The highest point rises approximately 360 meters above the water surface, and the left bank lies at the border of Yunnan Province. During the dry season, the widest part of the river is over 10 meters, while the narrowest is just 3 meters. The river twists and turns, with many rapids and dangerous shoals. In the 54th year of the Kangxi reign during the Qing Dynasty (1715), Wang Weihuai, who was appointed as the magistrate of Xilin County (then with its county seat in today’s Ding’an, Tianlin), passed through the gorge during a flood. He described it in his poem "Boat Passing Qianya":

……

Heaven made this wilderness a place of peril,

Its wonders wrought by ghostly blades and divine craft.

Furious waves twist and turn, raging and unbridled,

Lashing out in anger, surging high into the sky.

Thunderous roars shake without cease,

As if the earth's axis might topple, shaking the heavens.

A lone boat drifts swiftly by,