Haidian Gorge

　　Haidian Gorge lies to the east of Nanping Mountain, borders Kanglea County to the south, and is over 30 kilometers from the county town. The cliffs on both sides of the gorge rise thousands of feet high, and the gorge mouth twists like a silver snake. The Tao River surges forward with tremendous force, as mighty as thunder. The area is rich in water resources, forests, coal, and other natural resources. The Qing Dynasty poet Wu Zhen once wrote: “I recall the beauty of Lintao, where emerald waters flow from the south of the city; cliffs soar with high rocks emerging, the gorge opens through the forest’s lock...” Hence, Haidian Gorge is also known as Suolin Gorge (Lock Forest Gorge).

　　In modern times, Wang Xizhi’s Record of Lintao’s Golden Lock briefly mentioned that on the eastern cliff of the gorge, there are the two characters “摩崖” (cliff carving) and twelve characters reading “Completed on the 27th day of the 12th month of the fourth year of Shaosheng,” arranged in two rows, followed by inscriptions by Wang Cun and Wang An, each about five inches long, all in regular script. Meanwhile, the first volume of the county annals states:

　　“...Nowadays, there are ancient seal characters on the gorge’s cliffs, said to have been engraved during the Song or Jin Dynasties.” This should refer to the inscriptions heard of. On the eastern cliff inside the gorge,

　　there are many square holes, five or six inches in size. In the past, a path was built here to facilitate traffic. The Haidian Gorge Coal Mine is located here, covering an area of about 40 hectares, with coal seams over one meter thick. Currently, on the cliff face about one meter above the water level inside the gorge, there remains a stone inscription titled “Record of the Opening of the Coal Mountain,” written by Yang Jisheng. The stele is about two meters tall, the full text written in regular script and well preserved.

　　Observing the Tao River’s Flowing Pearls here is even more captivating. The Tao River’s Flowing Pearls is a unique spectacle of the Tao River, truly one of a kind in the world. Due to the steep and rugged rocks upstream and the great drop in elevation, during the coldest days of winter, water droplets splashing up freeze into ice pearls that fall into the water and float on the river surface, creating this phenomenon. Each severe winter, as the northern land is blanketed in snow, the Tao River surges ceaselessly, flowing thousands of miles. Clusters of floating pearls on the river surface are round, glittering, and crystal clear, majestically drifting downstream with the waves. Especially on winter mornings, when the sun rises in the east and the sky glows with morning light, the Flowing Pearls are bathed in a fiery red glow, appearing even more stunning and magnificent.

　　The Qing Dynasty poet Chen Zhongxiu wrote in his poem “Ode to the Tao River’s Flowing Pearls”:

　　Myriad bright pearls surge from the wave crests, sparkling as they race eastward with the current;

　　Such rarity is beyond the eyes of the common folk—they are cast into the raging waves and dare not be reclaimed.

　　The Qing Dynasty poet Wang Weixin wrote in “Scenes of Tao Prefecture: The Tao River’s Flowing Pearls”:

　　In winter, the river flows fast, with pearls dotting the waves.

　　No need to seek the mythical Elephant-Watching Sage—there are the mermaids’ tears.

　　In 2004, through investment attraction, Lintao County secured over 400 million yuan in investment from Gansu Electric Power Investment Company to build a large-scale diversion-type hydropower station in Haidian Gorge. This created the spectacular sight of a “high gorge forming a calm lake,” which together with the nearby Nanping Mountain scenic area, forms a magnificent and unique natural landscape in southern Lintao.