This attraction introduction is compiled from historical materials in the "Zhangjiajie Tour Guide Network" (33519.com · Scenic Spots section). Ticket prices, opening hours, transportation, and contact information mentioned in the text may be outdated. Please refer to the latest official announcements from the scenic area before traveling; some content consists of historical background/cultural introductions and is for reference only.
Loushui River is located at Jiangya, an ancient town east of Zhangjiajie city proper, 30 kilometers from the main gate of Zhangjiajie Forest Park, 28 kilometers from Huanglong Cave Scenic Area, and 58 kilometers from Zhangjiajie city center, integrated with the Wulingyuan Scenic and Historic Interest Area, a World Natural Heritage protection area.
Loushui River is remarkable for its water and renowned for the peril of its gorges. Loushui River rafting is the most exciting water recreation project around Zhangjiajie Forest Park. It is a premium tourism route in Zhangjiajie and is divided into two sections: the calm-lake cruise and the rafting.
The calm-lake cruise starts from Jiangya Dam and goes to Baizi Stream in Sangzhi, with a total length of 60 kilometers. The small boat travels across the tranquil water surface, with lush ancient trees on both banks, murmuring streams, and birds singing in the ravines, unfolding before your eyes an incomparably magnificent natural picture scroll.
Among them, the four sights of Yinnen Mountain, Chuanyan Cave, Luoxiang Pool Waterfall, and Liaocheng are the most remarkable, known as the "Four Wonders of Loushui Calm Lake." Especially striking is Yinnü Mountain rising abruptly on the south bank of Loushui River at Yangxi, just like a woman's private part, so exquisitely true and wonderfully crafted that people sigh in admiration and feel inferior; and the indisputable fact that it periodically "menstruates" like a young girl every month has become a riddle no one can solve.
Sixty kilometers of waterway, sixty kilometers of local charm. Girls washing clothes, old men fishing, and children with hanging locks of hair live freely and contentedly in this stretch of water—truly, "In the mountains there are no calendars; when cold ends, one knows not the year."
The Loujiang rafting stretch has long been known as the "Little Three Gorges." It runs 16 kilometers in total, and after two hours of thrilling, heart-pounding surfing, you reach the finish—Jiangya Hot Spring Resort. Along the way, the gorge is deep and secluded, with cliffs and flying waterfalls, numerous rapids and rushing waves, making for an exciting and adventurous ride. Drifting downstream, the scenery on both banks changes endlessly, as beautiful as a poem or painting—now ancient trees, small bridges, and villages; now stone walls, gorges, surging currents, and water winding around peaks, utterly enchanting. Scenic spots are densely packed along the route, numbering as many as a hundred or so, such as Tianfei Consort's Laundry Beach, Zhang Lang's Love-Forsaken Camphor Beach, King Xiang's Horse-Shooting Beach, Jiang Taigong's Fishing Platform… and more. In addition, there are numerous stone elephants, stone pigs, stone horses, stone turtles, and stone horns, with flocks of egrets soaring in the blue sky and affectionate mandarin ducks playing in pairs among the rippling waves…
In this quiet ancient town of Jiangya, from the "Louzhong Man" of the Eastern Han Dynasty, to the Xingguo Temple of the Tang Dynasty, to the Suokou Stockade of the Song Dynasty, to the Jiuxi Guard of the Ming Dynasty, history has been laid out in thick volumes built of large bluestone, displayed here for ages. Against the backdrop of history's spears and swords, "North-South Great Knight" Du Xinwu walked out from Yanban Tian in Jiangya, was tempered into steel at Doumi Temple and Fanzeng Mountain by the Loujiang River, and then strode proudly into the bloody and turbulent modern history of China—from the once-renowned "Sun Yat-sen's bodyguard" to the "Master of the Natural Gate" whose martial arts were unmatched in the martial world, leaving behind for the leisurely Loujiang a legend that others could never replicate.
The tourism culture of the scenic area has flourished with the completion of the Jiangya Dam—the world's tallest fully-section roller-compacted concrete gravity dam built to date. It is yet another beautiful landscape that water conservancy workers, with their wisdom and courage, have given back to society. The Jiangya Reservoir, built with an investment of 3.26 billion yuan, is located in the middle reaches of the river. It is a large (Type I) water conservancy hub project primarily for flood control, while also serving comprehensive benefits such as power generation, irrigation, and navigation. With the in-depth development of the tourism industry in the Zhangjiajie area, the Jiangya Scenic Area, with its fresh and pleasant atmosphere, uniquely charming reservoir scenery, and relaxing and comfortable hot spring tourism services, is bound to become another rising tourism pearl in China.
Bus routes: Take the Zhangjiajie city-to-Jiangya passenger bus from the Zhangjiajie city center bus station; take the Cili-to-Jiangya passenger bus from the Cili County bus station.
