The Tiger Leaping Gorge, with a stretch of 16 kilome-   ters, is located between the Yulong (Jade Dragon) Snow       Mountains in Lijiang County and the Haba Snow Mountains in Shangri-La County. The height from the peaks of the    mountains on both sides of the river down to the surface of the river reaches 3900 meters and the drop of the river reaches 220metres. It is the deepest and most adventurous gorge in the world.
The Tiger Leaping Gorge is divided 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 river, 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 river       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 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 the Sky". Further on there is "Slippery Stone Plate". The terrain is very terrible and 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 here 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 there so quietly, pointing directly 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 you 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 a giant dragon. We can use a saying to describe the scene:"Jade Cliff and Cold River".