Nu River

　　    The Nu River flows through Tibet, enters Sichuan, and then passes into Gongshan Dulong and Nu Autonomous County in Yunnan Province. After flowing through Gongshan, Fugong, and Lushui counties, it continues to Baoshan and Dehong before entering Myanmar and eventually emptying into the Indian Ocean. Its course within the Nujiang Prefecture is approximately 400 kilometers long.

　　    Flowing across the Tibetan Plateau, the Nu River resembles a blue ribbon on a green carpet. As it approaches Baxoi in southern Tibet, it enters deep, unfathomable high-mountain gorges. From an elevation of over 3,000 meters, it descends continuously to a deep trough at just over 700 meters above sea level.

　　    Within the Nujiang Lisu Autonomous Prefecture, the Gaoligong Mountains and the Biluo Snow Mountains stand guard on either side of the Nu River, making the two mountain ranges and the river look like three giant pythons descending swiftly from north to south.

　　    On the Nu River’s banks, the main peak of the Gaoligong Mountain range—Chulu Lacuo Peak—at the border between Yunnan and Tibet reaches an altitude of 4,649 meters, descending to around 3,000 meters within Baoshan. There are over 20 peaks in this section that rise above 4,000 meters. Across the river from the Gaoligong Mountains, running parallel from north to south, are the peaks of the Biluo Snow Mountains, also known as the Nu Mountain Range, which reach elevations of up to 5,500 meters.

　　    Squeezed between the Gaoligong Mountains and the Biluo Snow Mountains, the Nu River faces great difficulty in flowing. As a result, it surges angrily, crashing forward and backward, veering left and right. Yet the towering Gaoligong and Biluo Snow Mountains do not yield an inch; instead, they press in closer, narrowing the distance between the two ranges to the span of an arrow shot—less than a hundred meters. The raging Nu River roars like a wild horse gone berserk or a boar chased by hunters.

　　    It plows a massive valley in the eastern part of the Earth, with the difference in elevation from the valley floor to the mountain peaks reaching up to 4,000 meters, thereby creating one of the most famous and spectacular gorges in the Eastern Hemisphere.