Baiheliang

Welcome to the Baiheliang Underwater Museum, located in Fuling at the confluence of the Yangtze and Wu Rivers. You are about to visit what is often called the 'world's earliest hydrological station'. …

Our journey begins with a descent on a long escalator that takes you deep beneath the riverbed. The transition is striking; the bright, bustling museum lobby is replaced by the dim, quiet atmosphere of the underwater level. …

As you look through the windows at the sandstone surface of the ridge, you are seeing records that began in the 8th century during the Tang Dynasty. Scholars and officials started carving marks on this natural ridge to record the…

The 'Twin Fish' are the most famous carvings on Baiheliang. These fish were carved into the sandstone as a reference mark; the ancient hydrological engineers determined that the water level at the eyes of the twin fish was…

Baiheliang is not only a scientific site but also a 'forest of stone steles' under the water. Because the ridge provided a flat, accessible surface during the winter, it became a popular spot for visiting poets, officials, and…

Among the many Chinese characters on the ridge, there is one particularly rare and significant inscription in the Paspa script. This was an ancient Mongolian script created during the Yuan Dynasty, which was ruled by the Mongols. …

The museum itself is a marvel of modern engineering, costing approximately 200 million yuan, or about 30 million US dollars. When the Three Gorges project threatened to submerge the ridge forever, many plans were proposed,…

As you ascend back to the surface and exit the museum, you leave behind a silent world that holds the keys to understanding a millennium of climate history. Baiheliang is a unique fusion of science, art, and legend, a place where…