Dadu River Jinping Grand Canyon

Dadu River Jinping Grand Canyon

The Dadu River Jinping Grand Canyon is a national AAAA-level tourist attraction and a national water conservancy scenic area.

The Dadu River Canyon is situated at the junction of Jinkouhe District in Leshan City, Sichuan Province, Hanyuan County in Ya'an City, and Ganluo County in the Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture, with a total area of approximately 404 square kilometers. It is a typical river-eroded valley canyon landform, about 26 kilometers long, 70 to 150 meters wide, and locally less than 50 meters, with an elevation drop of 1000 to 1500 meters and a maximum valley depth of 2600 meters—twice as deep as the Three Gorges of the Yangtze River and 860 meters deeper than the Grand Canyon in the United States—boasting a majestic presence. The canyon walls rise sheer for thousands of feet, exposing a nearly perfect geological section spanning from the pre-Sinian Ebian Group (over 540 million years ago) to the Permian Emeishan Basalt (about 300 million years ago), recording over a billion years of geological evolution. The valley also contains remote gullies such as "Laocang" and "Bai Xiong." Birds sing along the streams, pebbles dot the verdant peaks, and within the gullies, not only are wonders like "Moon Bay," "Lovers' Valley," "Reclining Ox Pool," and "Stone Drum Waterfall" breathtaking, but the area is also rich in colorful crystal-like rocks. Breathtaking scenery, unique stones, and rare flowers form the “Three Wonders of the Canyon.”

The Dadu River Jinping Grand Canyon is approximately 26 kilometers long, with a valley width of less than 200 meters but a depth reaching 2600 meters. Towering peaks and steep cliffs on both sides of the canyon create various iconic landscapes resembling humans and animals, vividly lifelike. The overlapping mountains are covered in lush greenery, with cascading waterfalls and a variety of wildflowers and grasses competing in beauty, forming a series of stunning vistas with an extraordinary natural charm.

Towering peaks and steep cliffs on both sides of the canyon create various iconic landscapes resembling humans and animals, vividly lifelike. The overlapping mountains are covered in lush greenery, with cascading waterfalls and a variety of wildflowers and grasses competing in beauty, forming a series of stunning vistas with an extraordinary natural charm. Along the canyon, many small gullies have formed, arranged in a picturesque disorder, among which the most famous is the “One-Line Sky.” The cliffs on either side of the gully are so close that when you look up, you can only see the sky. Following this path leads all the way to Laochang Gully at the heart of the canyon. This several-kilometer stretch is nothing short of miraculous, with steep cliffs, murmuring streams, calls of birds and beasts, and narrow winding paths—nature’s “deliberately” perfect display.

The Dadu River originates from the Bayan Har Mountains at the border of Sichuan and Qinghai. Upstream, the Dadu’s tributaries—Dajin River and Xiaojin River—converge in Danba before the river is officially named the Dadu. It surges through the towering mountains of the eastern Hengduan Range, with almost its entire course featuring dramatic canyon sections. However, it is only at the Jinping Grand Canyon that the river’s canyon landscape reaches its zenith. The Jinping Grand Canyon starts west of Wusi River in Hanyuan County and extends east to Jinkouhe in Leshan City, spanning 26 kilometers. The valley floor is generally 70 to 200 meters wide, locally less than 50 meters, with the valley shoulder reaching a maximum width of about 8 kilometers, and a depth of 2600 meters. At the canyon’s exit, the lowest elevation of the river valley is about 580 meters, while the northern bank’s Dawei Mountain rises to 3222 meters, resulting in a maximum valley depth of over 2600 meters. Its continuous and intact length, along with its precipitous and magnificent features, is rare in the world. Due to its location on the strongly uplifting edge of the eastern Hengduan Mountains, at a high-altitude step between China’s first and second topographic terraces with a significant elevation difference, and with the canyon’s bedrock primarily consisting of hard, horizontally layered dolomitic limestone, Jinping Canyon has become one of the most typical gorge and notch canyons on a major river in China. It is characterized by near-vertical valley walls, a deep and narrow valley floor, and a riverbed that almost entirely occupies the base, with little development of river beaches. The numerous tributary valleys on both sides further present wonders of bottomless depths, knife-edge narrowness, and sheer cliffs forming “one-line skies.” Jinping Grand Canyon offers rare three-dimensional access routes: along the river, the Jincheng-Wushi Highway and the Chengdu-Kunming Railway run parallel, while in the mountains, the World War II-era Leshan-Xichang Highway winds precariously through the landscape.

The Dadu River Jinping Grand Canyon was designated as a National Geopark by the Ministry of Land and Resources in 2001. In October 2005, it was ranked among the “Top Ten Most Beautiful Canyons in China” by the renowned Chinese magazine *Chinese National Geography*. Located at the junction of Jinkouhe, Hanyuan, and Ganluo districts and counties in western Sichuan, the canyon stretches 26 kilometers in length and 14 kilometers in width, with a depth of 2600 meters and a width of less than 200 meters. It rivals the Three Gorges of the Yangtze River and the Grand Canyon in the United States, and is hailed as a “Geological Wonder and a Sublime Hidden Valley.” The canyon features steep mountains, peculiar peaks, and strange rocks on both sides; the Dadu River has perilous shoals, rapid currents, and is teeming with wildlife, with cliffs and deep valleys forming a seamless, awe-inspiring panorama.