The Tiger leaping Gorge, with a stretch of 16 kilometers, is located .between the yulong (Jade Dragon) Snow Mountains in Lijiang County,and the Haba Snow Mountains in Zhongdian County. The height from the peaks of the moun-
tains on both sides of the fiver down to the surface of the river reaches 3900 meters and the drop of the river reaches 220 metres. It is the deepest and most adventurous gorge in the world.

The Tiger Leaping is divide into three parts: the Upper Part, the Middle Part and the Lower Part. There are altogether 18 dangerous shoals around here. The narrowest part of the river is only 30 meters wide. The distance between
the cliffs on both sides of the river is so short that in a legend a tiger can easily jump over it, hence the name.

The Upper Part is the narrowest one in the three. Here the current is rapid, big and dangerous waves beating both banks. In the middle of the fiver, there is an enormous rock called the Tiger Leaping Rock. It was said that it was here
that a tiger, with the aid of the rock, jumped over the fiver from the Yulong Snow Mountains on one side to the Haba Snow Mountains on the other.

The Middle Part is about 5 kilometers long. The cliffs here are so steep that they look like being cut out with a knife. In the river there are many submerged rocks scattering everywhere. Sprays are bouncing in the air, and look like the stars in the sky. So the Middle Part is also called "Stars in
them Sky". Further on there is "Slippery Stone Plate". The terrain is very terrible Md the noises of the waves sound like thunders. All these usually make people soul-stirring.

The Lower Part is near the exit of the gorge. The terrain bern is a little bit wider and smoother, so it is a good place for the tourists to have look at the gorge as a whole. Climbing up to "Looking at the Gorge", you can see the snow peaks standing the so quietly, pointing dirctly to the sky, and making the Sky look like a blue thread. The scene looks so soul-stirring that even "a monkey will burst into tears when he sees it, and an eagle will fly across it by a roundabout route, when she sees it" When yon take a look at the whole scene
the Jinsha River winds and zigzags forward between the mountains, and the waves are shining under the sun. It looks like agiant dragon. We can uwe a saying to describe the scene "Jade Cliff and Gold".