China: suspicions surrounding the authenticity of “the largest waterfall in Asia”
It’s a “secret”, as describes it South Morning China Post, which the authorities of Henan province, in central China, would have liked to keep for themselves. But the latter was blown away by a simple hiker who was walking in the heights overlooking a waterfall on Mount Yuntai, “the largest waterfall in Asia” according to the Hong Kong newspaper.
The tourist actually discovered large rust-colored pipes which fed this 314 meter high waterfall. Surprised, he decided to take several videos and post them online on Monday June 3. At the end of the week, his publication had reached 14 million views on Weibo and more than 10 million on Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok.
The revelations about this “artificial stunt” provoked numerous reactions, often indignant, on Chinese social networks. Some believe that this installation distorts the magic of the site while others, on the contrary, believe that everything is good to support the majesty of the place.
Faced with this flood of reactions, the authorities explained that the installation of these pipes was intended to “preserve the appearance of the waterfall during the dry season, when the flow is lower”. In a press release, reported by the American channel CNN, the park administration added that the waterfall “could not offer the public the same spectacle during the changing seasons”. And to fix it she needed a “a little help at certain times”.
The public authorities did not specify whether the water supply to the site was actually interrupted during the wet season.
