Yuntai: Hiker finds pipe feeding China's tallest waterfall

A controversy over a waterfall has cascaded into a social media storm in China, even prompting an explanation from the water body itself.

A hiker posted a video that showed the flow of water from Yuntai Mountain Waterfall - billed as China’s tallest uninterrupted waterfall - was coming from a pipe built high into the rock face.

The clip has been liked more than 70,000 times since it was first posted on Monday. Operators of the Yuntai tourism park said that they made the “small enhancement” during the dry season so visitors would feel that their trip had been worthwhile.

“The one about how I went through all the hardship to the source of Yuntai Waterfall only to see a pipe,” the caption of the video posted by user “Farisvov” reads.

tagelthebagel,

But the TOURISM!

mechoman444,

There’s a whole series on YouTube about how China fakes everything.

vaultdweller013,

Can I get a link? Sounds like a solid watch while im playing Noita, and failing miserably.

mechoman444,

youtu.be/PA78KBYNEbw

vaultdweller013,

Thanks dude, duddette, or eldritch abomination from R’lyeh.

Silentiea,
@Silentiea@lemmy.blahaj.zone avatar

Why you have to assume I’m from R’lyeh? There are other impossible cities, nestled in the bosom of roiling, black seas and characterized by writhing, non-euclidean angles and shapes that tessellate into the vast, unknowable distance

nutsack, (edited )

it’s not just china. its everywhere in east and southeast asia. the chinese tourists wouldn’t even care that the waterfall is fake. they get off the bus and take selfies with it, and then get back on the bus. they have no interest in anything else.

FlyingSquid,
@FlyingSquid@lemmy.world avatar

I went to Niagara Falls last year and I was disappointed to find out that they could control the flow or even stop the flow of water going down the falls and sometimes did so in winter. But they also didn’t make a secret of it.

Shyfer,

I had no idea. That is kinda disappointing lol

FlyingSquid,
@FlyingSquid@lemmy.world avatar

It is, but they’re still really beautiful. The area is a big tourist trap, but the falls themselves are worth it.

Shyfer,

I’d definitely still love to see it one day. And now at least that won’t catch me off guard lol.

Adalast,

Only if you ignore WHY it has the ability to do that. The reason is the hydroelectric power plant, or more specifically the construction of the plant, required that they divert the falls for a couple years a LONG time ago. They have maintained the capacity to divert the flow of the river to ensure that they are able to perform maintenance on the plant and the various national park infrastructures around the falls. The seasonal diversions are usually to perform said maintenance as well as to protect parts of the power plant from freezing. It is actually one of the great engineering marvals of the early 20th century.

Tilgare,

Thanks for the context - that’s fascinating.

Shyfer,

Ya thanks for the interesting POV. I’ll try to look at it from that angle when I finally make it out over there.

ILikeBoobies,

Why?

Shyfer,

It’s hard to describe why, but you visit that kind of place to see the wonders of nature and all that. Still, I’ll keep in mind that other person’s comment about the great feat of engineering it required.

Silentiea,
@Silentiea@lemmy.blahaj.zone avatar

Not even that it took a lot of work to make diversion possible, but also that what you’re seeing is, if anything, a slightly reduced version of the original, natural falls. The same river is going over the same spot it did originally, there is just infrastructure now that allows it to go elsewhere when the hydro dam that is also on the river needs maintenance.

Agent641,

They turned it off once to clear rubble underneath it so it looked more spectacular.

exanime,

I don’t get why would that be disappointing?

FlyingSquid,
@FlyingSquid@lemmy.world avatar

Because you think you’re seeing a purely natural wonder but it turns out to be at least somewhat orchestrated.

It doesn’t take away the beauty of what you’re looking at, but it does take away some of the feeling behind that beauty if that makes sense.

The_Biggest_Cum,

Because you think you’re seeing a purely natural wonder but it turns out to be at least somewhat orchestrated.

I mean, it is still a natural wonder, same as it was.

All we did was make it so we can move the water to one side so we can take a look / work on maintaining the natural wonder, it’s not like we dug out the channels and created those 3 waterfalls

The beauty of something shouldn’t be affected at all by the insanely hardcore engineering it takes to maintain said beauty. If it does for you I’d recommend therapy cuz literally every natural wonder will be ruined for you if that’s the case cuz they all get maintained

FlyingSquid,
@FlyingSquid@lemmy.world avatar

Dude, you asked me why and I told you why. I’m sorry you don’t care for why I was mildly disappointed but that was still I was mildly disappointed.

Suggesting I need therapy for that is just rude and unnecessary.

exanime,

How is it orchestrated? What you see is what nature did. The water can be controlled somewhat because of engineering but it doesn’t change the features of the fall as nature made it

I’m not arguing against you, just not getting your perspective (which I’m just trying to understand)

FlyingSquid,
@FlyingSquid@lemmy.world avatar

If you can turn off the falls whenever you want, I’d call that orchestrated.

exanime,

I mean, they put lights on with colours at night… And there is a whole boulevard built around them so you can see them better

Would you call that orchestrated?

FlyingSquid,
@FlyingSquid@lemmy.world avatar

Yes?

exanime,

Ok, I think I get your point now!

Cheers!

AgentGrimstone,

Seems like that one youtube channel won the recent algorithm lottery.

Objection,

People will really jump on any random thing to bash China. I’ll give kudos to British state media that this constant deluge of insignificant nonsense makes it really hard to have any discussion about China that’s based on like, broad trends in history or economics.

Parks do water management. At Niagra Falls, for example, much of the water is used for power generation at night, but during the day more of it goes over the falls for the benefit of tourists. You’ve probably never heard about it, because it doesn’t matter. At all.

But make it about another tribe, about the outgroup, and suddenly it’s the most important thing in the world and proves everything we always suspected and blah blah blah. Go volunteer at your local park.

LordOfLocksley,

Ok Tankie!

Objection,

Being a tankie is when you don’t care about water management at a park on the opposite side of the world, even though your state hates their state.

echodot,

As opposed to what you’re doing which is just apologizing for a corrupt government?

Objection,

Contrary to popular belief, there’s actually nothing wrong with calling out bad arguments and illegitimate or irrelevant criticism of anything or anyone, regardless of what you think about the thing or person. I’ll apologize for whoever I please, in other words.

FordBeeblebrox,

Last I checked, Buffalo wasn’t pumping water up the falls just to make it roll down through the turbines, but if you have legit sources showing otherwise I’d be most happy to see them comrade

Objection,

Where did I claim they were? I believe what I said is “Parks do water management.” And beauty and tourism are concerns that they take into account. This is a non-story.

FlyingSquid,
@FlyingSquid@lemmy.world avatar

They do control the amount of water that flows down the falls. I was there last year. They also come right out and say so.

FordBeeblebrox,

Bit of a difference between a weir/hydroelectric dam and a pump that would take all the water from the turbines and send it right back up to the canucks, using the turbine energy.

Then again, maybe it would spur a new round of waterfall barrel daredevils if they knew their keys would just be churned up top like a bowling ball at a “natural wonder”

Hadriscus,

Speak for yourself, as far as I’m concerned China has lost all credibility with this story. Faking a waterfall ? That’s grounds for economic sanctions

Objection,

Xi Jinping reading about this story like

https://lemmy.ml/pictrs/image/c3080c1c-51b4-4696-a7c7-764399466f97.jpeg

Hadriscus,

I expect chairman Xi’s resignation letter on my desk by 8

Jiggle_Physics,

I mean, they already did that.

Objection,

Are you a Maoist, then?

Jiggle_Physics,

No, China’s current economy is not communist. Nothing to do with Mao, or what I think about communism personally.

Objection,

I guess I’m just confused then. When China enacted economic reforms in the 80’s, there were people who opposed them and felt that these reforms entailed a right-wing deviation from communism. Those people were/are known as Maoist hardliners. You can see where I thought you might be one.

If you’re not that, then does that mean you do approve of those economic reforms? Perhaps I misunderstood, when you said China abandoned communism, did you mean it as a good thing, and you support China’s direction from a pro-capitalist standpoint?

If that’s not it, I give up. I’m afraid I’m at a loss what your ideology is or what you think about Chinese history or the country’s economic reforms. If you could explain it to me, I’d be quite grateful, I see a lot of people around here who appear to me to be Maoists, but when I ask if they are, they don’t answer or elaborate. It’s very confusing to me.

nomous,

You should comment less and lurk moar and you’ll pick up the vibe.

Or just keep trying to corner people and wonder why they don’t want to engage with you.

Objection,

I guess I don’t really operate on vibes too much when looking at geopolitics.

nomous,

Ah one of those beep boop robot people unable to see any nuance that can only deal with absolutes. That’ll hold you back.

Objection,

That doesn’t seem to describe me very well. Seems like a strange take. I would think that studying history and basing beliefs on evidence would lead one to arrive at a more nuanced understanding than going, “idk seems bad.”

nomous,

I would think that studying history and basing beliefs on evidence would lead one to arrive at a more nuanced understanding than going, “idk seems bad.”

You’d think so but here we are, “beliefs” are based on “faith” and “evidence” is up for “interpretation.” A room full of people can read a story and all take something different from it, if we could all just study history and decide what the best course of action is, that’d be cool.

Objection, (edited )

“beliefs” are based on “faith” and “evidence” is up for “interpretation.”

No, they are not. I believe more of the earth’s surface is water than land. Is that belief based on faith? Is that evidence up for interpretation?

Some beliefs are based on faith and some evidence can be interpreted in multiple ways but that doesn’t mean that there’s no such thing as a rational, evidence-based belief.

A room full of people can read a story and all take something different from it, if we could all just study history and decide what the best course of action is, that’d be cool.

Yes, people disagree on things, but when they are grounded on evidence and reason, they can discuss them rationally and present reason or evidence that the other person might not be aware of, and possibly resolve the disagreement. If you just go off vibes, and someone else senses different vibes from you, then there’s nothing you can appeal to to convince them of your perspective.

KISSmyOSFeddit,

Why do you need to know the other commenters ideology, their stance on China’s direction, history, and economic reforms, as well as on capitalism?
All they said was that China’s economy isn’t currently communist, which is true whether you like it or not.

Objection, (edited )

Because I’m trying to understand their perspective. I consider China to be communist in the sense that the people in charge are communists, the same sense that it was communist under Mao. They call themselves communists, they explain their reasons for doing things from the perspective of communist ideology, they teach Marxism in schools, etc.

To say that they are specifically no longer communist, when they claim to be, seems to be weighing in on what communism is and isn’t. Specifically, it seems to be taking the perspective that Mao’s leadership constituted “real” communism while Deng’s leadership constituted “fake” communism. As I am not a Maoist, I disagree with that perspective.

It’s strange to me that you think understanding someone’s stance on China’s economic reforms, the point in history where they allegedly abandoned communism, would be irrelevant to understanding the standard by which they consider China to have abandoned communism. What could be more relevant?

VirtualOdour,

They don’t know anything about China’s government or its history, they’re simply combining their hate of capitalism with their hate of China - they’ve picked up a few wesponized talking points to allow them to talk like they know everything because admitting the whole thing is super complex and confusing makes them feel scared and lost in this big old world.

It’s also racism, communism and capitalism are western ideologies so they consider them valid, Chinese principles and reforms are foreign and worthless in their eyes - they simply can’t accept that they’re not playing the western way, the idea of a third thing is incomprehensible to them. It’s the same with Chinese tech, people want to belive all they can do is copy the west, I think partly it just feels weird trying to accept that even in some small way people are ahead of us.

Their electric cars for example are presented as a rudimentary version of American ev but the reality is they’re a product very well suited to China’s integrated transport network which allows easy and affordable train travel for long distance and commuter transit. Small last-mile and runaround focused EV works in China because that’s how they planned for their transit system to work, they’re flowing a series of five year plans which lay out the shape and direction of their economy with the goal of benefitting the people. It’s a centrally planned economy working through a complex series of committees and congresses. Of course that’s communism, anyone that says it isn’t is just being weird.

Objection,

Thank you, yes. It’s pure chauvanism and falls apart easily under examination, which seems to be why they always disappear so quickly.

1.4 billion people live in China and I’d venture to say that a large chunk of them consider themselves to be communist and the party to be communist. That is easily the majority view of self-indentifying communists worldwide. But surely, they think, as a Westerner, I’m the authority on what communism is and not these backwards Chinese.

FlyingSquid,
@FlyingSquid@lemmy.world avatar

The video was posted on Weibo by a hiker, which suggests the hiker is Chinese. So blame the Chinese for making this known since they then viewed and shared it thousands of times.

Objection,

You say “thousands” as if that’s a lot. If some Chinese people want to talk about a park’s water management, I don’t mind. But when Westerners take some random trivial thing like this and use it to fuel a narrative that “China is a country full of lies,” or whatever, that’s an entirely different animal. This is a local issue, not an excuse for chauvanists to be chauvanist.

FlyingSquid,
@FlyingSquid@lemmy.world avatar

Yes, I do call 70,000 shares a lot. That’s shares, not views. I’m not sure why you don’t.

And it’s still the Chinese people making a big deal about this.

Objection, (edited )

Really? Because what I’m seeing is an article from the British Broadcasting Channel and a thread full of people using this story to make sweeping generalizations about China, in English. I suppose it’s possible, but I gotta say I find it a little hard to believe that this thread is full of Chinese nationals, as you’re claiming.

samus12345,
@samus12345@lemmy.world avatar

this thread is full of Chinese nationals, as you’re claiming.

Where was that claimed?

Objection, (edited )

Right here?

And it’s still the Chinese people making a big deal about this.

I’m talking about what people in this thread are saying, and in response they said it’s Chinese people making a big deal about it, so naturally that would imply that this thread is full of primarily Chinese people.

samus12345,
@samus12345@lemmy.world avatar

They said it’s Chinese people IN CHINA making a big deal about it, which is what this article is about.

Objection, (edited )

And I’m fine with that. What I’m less fine with are people in this thread, about a BBC article, exploiting a local issue about water management to paint an entire country as being full of liars. If Chinese people want to make a big deal out of it, that’s their business.

Nobody in this thread cares about it for the story itself. They care about it because it gives them an excuse to push their agenda.

samus12345,
@samus12345@lemmy.world avatar

Fair, but Flying Squid didn’t say anything negative about China. He just said that it was Chinese people who made this incident known internationally.

Objection,

I never said that he did.

I don’t see how this point matters. Yes, Chinese people shared the story, because they cared about it. I still think it’s a non-issue personally, but people care about all sorts of things, and I’m sure I could find some celebrity gossip with a wider spread. Perfectly fine with all of that.

Then the BBC reports on it internationally, and people on here use it to spread a narrative that China is a nation full of liars. Am I repeating myself? I think I said that part already. That’s the only thing I’ve taken issue with. I fail to see how what you’re saying, that Chinese people originally shared the story, has anything to do with that.

samus12345,
@samus12345@lemmy.world avatar

I fail to see how what you’re saying, that Chinese people originally shared the story, has anything to do with that.

It doesn’t really. The issue is that you incorrectly stated he claimed that it was Chinese nationals in this thread that made a big deal about the waterfall, which he did not.

Objection,

I said that to make the point that what they said was irrelevant to what I said, unless this thread was full of Chinese people.

VirtualOdour,

OK but putting that aside can we agree his other point is totally valid, prople in this thread using it to attack all China or all chinese are absurd, awful, and immoral?

samus12345,
@samus12345@lemmy.world avatar

Yes.

Colour_me_triggered,

So Chinese!

Cyberjin,

Not surprising, everything is fake in China. Have even seen China using green paint on plants and mountains…

youtu.be/Cvc7VymDa4cyoutu.be/AynNsPs9i80

exanime,

ehmmm, every city in every country I have heard of does something like this when an international event will take place.

Not saying the Chinese may not over do it… but this is common practice in the Western World as well

RaoulDook,

Yep we all paint our dogs to look like pandas over here

echodot,

Did you actually watch the videos?

They were spraying the trees green because they were dead. Elsewhere they might power wash ground, and maybe replace broken windows in abandoned buildings so they look new, possibly do some weeding, but they’re not painting trees because the trees are not dead. If the trees are dead you’ve got a serious issue.

exanime,

Brazil painted over their slum neighborhoods… Venezuela used to hang flower pots on every lamp post… Canada labeled a bunch of buildings as “green sustainable energy”… etc

Again, I am not saying China is no overdoing it… but the pearl clutching tone of the video seemed silly to me

46_and_2,

When they wrote this “promted explanation from the water body itself” I thought it was some funny wording for a water agency or sth, not that they’d actually attempt to word their answer as if it’s from the waterfall itself, lol.

The park later posted on behalf of the waterfall saying, “I didn’t expect to meet everyone this way”. “As a seasonal scenery I can’t guarantee that I will be in my most beautiful form everytime you come to see me,” it adds. “I made a small enhancement during the dry season only so I would look my best to meet my friends.”

samus12345,
@samus12345@lemmy.world avatar

So the waterfall itself installed a pipe? I know it’s trying to be whimsical, but that part makes so sense whatsoever even in that context.

sensiblepuffin,
@sensiblepuffin@lemmy.world avatar

Don’t be ridiculous. It called one of its contractor friends to install the pipe for them.

TheBlue22,

Damn son, even waterfalls in China are fake? What isn’t fake in China?!

Roflmasterbigpimp,
@Roflmasterbigpimp@lemmy.world avatar

The Concentration Camps are real.

Shardikprime,

Uyghur genocide

MisterFrog,
@MisterFrog@lemmy.world avatar

I’m not saying china doesn’t have problems, but it’s this kind of attitude that sends us down the path of us vs them that I think is toxic and leads to nationalism.

I have no issue with people criticising things in other countries, just not be absolute about it.

There most certainly are many not fake things in China that are great. Friendly people, wonderful food, natural wonders (this and perhaps some others excepted, but still), beautiful villages etc.

Just as there are bad things too, historical and contemporary.

Only a sith deals in absolutes.

“Oh this is whack, the park authority/ Chinese government faking a waterfall? That’s pretty shit.” 👍 An opinion I think many could agree with and is a valid criticism.

“Everything in China is fake” 👎 No it isn’t.

VirtualOdour,

Unfortunately lemmy is by and large pretty racist, and totally unable to handle any form of nuance. I don’t really know why people who consider themselves heroicly leftwing are like this but I think it’s because complexity is uncomfortable compared to just deciding you know it all and biewing the world as divided into teams of good vs evil.

TheBlue22,

I most meant it as a joke tbh

lemmytellyousomething,

Now that we know how to build a water fall from scratch, it’s just a matter of time until the world record of the highest water fall will be in Saudi Arabia or Quatar…

rmuk,

“The world’s largest waterfall is fed by the world’s second-biggest pump. The world’s biggest pump is used for the air conditioning that keeps the surrounding forest at a pleasant 20°C cooler than natural temperatures.”

Shardikprime,

Everything in china is fake part 3000

Hadriscus,

Honestly that kind of phrase sounds like a remnant of the old, prejudice-clad world. Why continue with this ?

Shardikprime,

Okay

Everything in china is fake except for the Uyghur genocide part 3001

echodot,

Yeah they just have some credit. There’s also Taiwan that’s real, they care about that a lot.

Hadriscus,

Is that supoosed to be a joke ?

TokenBoomer,

I didn’t think I could hate China more. /s

Thanks BBC

recapitated,

This was not on my bingo card.

Mango,

Ha! Actually fake and gay!

Waterfalls cause rainbows.

Shardikprime,

Literally this

Untrue and joyous

Mango,

Joious

Shardikprime,

You were expecting a JOJO reference, but it was me, DIO!

Adderbox76,

Farisov who? We, the chinese government, have never heard of, not has there every been a user by the name of Farisov… Please go on about your day.

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