The highest waterfall on Yuntai Mountain gets its water from a pipe embedded in the rocks, according to a controversial video taken by a mountaineer and posted on social media, the BBC reports.
The video has garnered more than 70,000 ‘likes’ since it was originally posted on Monday.
Managers of the Yuntai Tourist Park announced that they have added a “minor improvement” during the dry season to make the trip to the falls worthwhile for visitors.
“This is… about how I endured all the hardships on the way to the source of Yuntai Falls just to see the pipe,” reads the description of the video posted by user “Farisvov”.
The topic “the source of Yuntai Falls is just some pipes” quickly spread on social media.
Videos on this topic have been viewed more than 14 million times on the Weibo social network and nearly 10 million times on the Douyin (TikTok) platform, causing such an uproar that local government officials were sent to the park to investigate the case.
Managers were told to learn from the incident and inform tourists of the surcharge in advance, according to state broadcaster CCTV.
“As a seasonal attraction, I cannot guarantee that I will be at my best every time you come to see me,” the park wrote on behalf of the falls. “I did a little bit of improvement during the dry spell just to look my best when I meet my friends.”
The waterfall in the central province of Henan is 312 meters high and is part of the Yuntai Mountain Geopark.
Millions of visitors travel there every year, attracted by geological formations that are more than a billion years old.
Park staff told CCTV that the water they used for the waterfall was spring water, adding that it would not harm the natural landscape.
This is not the first time that an artificial attempt has been made to “help” famous waterfalls in China.
Huangguoshu Waterfall, a popular tourist destination in the southwestern province of Guizhou, has been helped by diverting water from a nearby dam since 2006 to maintain the flow during the dry season.
Photo: Yountai Mountain Net
