Jiaxing (CNS) -- About 220,000 tourists from home and abroad visited the awe-inspiring Qiantang tidal bore in Haining, Zhejiang Province, from September 10 until 9pm on the 15th, according to Zhang Bingyu, deputy director of the scenic zone administration.
Widely known as a high, dynamic, fierce, and breathtaking tide, tide sightseeing on the eighteenth day of the eighth month of the lunar calendar has long been a tradition since the Han Dynasty, and was often used in literary works of many famous poets, including Bai Juyi, Li Bai, and Su Dongpo. Political leaders Sun Yat-sen and Mao Zedong also came for the amazing natural phenomenon.
The tidal bore reaches its peak of the year when the Sun, the Moon, and the Earth move to a line on the exact same day of the lunar calendar every year. This date always sees the best views of the tides.
This year's rich water resource added to the forming of a higher tide, which was the grandest recorded in the last nine years.
At 1:10 pm on the 15th, the tide measured 1.9 meters, only lower to the 2.2-meter tide on August 31 caused by a typhoon.
According to the Haining Public Security Bureau, a 1,700-meter dangerous zone in Yancang of Haining City along the Qiantang River was closed to the public, owing to a tragedy on August 31 when the guardrail was broken by the roaring tide and over 100 visitors fell into the river, injuring more than 20.
