Tiger Leaping Gorge [Hutiao Xia] – Yunnan Province, China
© Copyright 2002 Geoffrey Svenson.
Edited 23rd March 2024.
This paper was first written in 2002 to document the upper track through Hutiao Xia, a very deep gorge on the upper reaches of the Yangtse River, in the Peoples Republic of China. No attempt has been made to bring the content up to date. As in the original document, Pinyin romanisations are used for place, village and river names, except when quoting from historical sources.
The underlying purpose was to justify a suggestion that the track is a remnant of a very old trade route, possibly into Tibet, from south-eastern Yunnan and southern China in general. Historical information was assembled between 1998 and 2001, but, except where noted otherwise, all images were captured between 10th and 12th September 2001. The “911” attack on the World Trade Centre, New York took place on the first day of that walk through the gorge…
Introduction
One of the more popular and spectacular walks in Yunnan Province is the upper track through “Tiger Leaping Gorge”, a gorge of the upper Yangzi Jiang, or as that river is locally known, the Jinsha Jiang. The Chinese name for this gorge is Hutiao Xia – literally Tiger Jump Down – and for the balance of this paper “Hutiao Xia” is used. There are two primary routes through the gorge, which are referred to as the upper and lower paths. Both are on the northern or left wall of the gorge. The lower one is now a motor road.
Hutiao Xia lies between two mountain ranges – Yulong Shan and Haba Shan, which rise up to thirteen thousand feet on either side. The towering limestone massif of Yulong Shan forms the southern wall, behind which is the Lijiang Plain. Haba Shan, forming the northern wall, is less spectacular from within the gorge, but nonetheless equally effective in blocking the passage of the Yangzi. The road that has now replaced the lower path was cut through ground that is extremely unstable, and regular and spectacular rock falls close the road in any number of places. The incidence of these rock falls is particularly high in late summer when rain has saturated the soil and fractured limestone through which the road was cut.
The upper route through Hutiao Xia is less subject to rock falls, although there is evidence which suggests massive falls some time in the recent past, and earlier. However, the upper route is quite narrow and rocky in many places, and streams which flow from still further up the mountain can add to the hazards and dangers of the path. In some places the upper track is but three feet wide, with a sheer drop of many hundreds of feet into the gorge alongside. Evaluation of earlier accounts of the area tends to confirm it is absolutely typical of the ancient trade routes through this country, and elsewhere in the more mountainous parts of China.
Although overall transportation patterns are changing on account of road development and the more widespread use of motorised vehicles, the uppermost track continues to be used on occasions by mule teams and local carriers. Less than half way through the gorge the upper track branches. The first branch leads even higher up over the tail of Haba Shan, most likely falling into the Haba valley beyond. The second leads down to the hamlet of Walnut Grove, nestled on the lower slopes. The split in the track is obvious, and occurs just east of Nuo Yu. Historical references to both the upper and lower tracks, in conjunction with preliminary archaeological assessment, are used to suggest that the upper tracks in particular represents an ancient route through this part of the upper Yangzi, or Jinsha Jiang. This paper addresses only the upper track(s) – which are now the only true walking paths through the gorge.
Sources
Sources were confined, in the main, to accounts of travel in Yunnan and Sichuan Provinces published since 1860 in Europe and America. No translations of historical Chinese accounts of the track appear to exist, which is unfortunate as they would almost certainly predate the resources available to us. At the other end of the scale, our most recent experience of these ancient tracks was in September 2001.
As part of a preliminary survey a variety of English-language guidebooks to China generally, and to Sichuan and Yunnan provinces in particular were consulted. The information produced by this was as follows:
- The ‘gorge trek’ was, until perhaps six years ago, regarded as an obscure side-trip for only a few people. (Lonely Planet, 2000)
- After the renowned Three Gorges in Sichuan and Hubei, Hutiaoxia is the Yangzi’s best known gorge. (Booz, 1997)
- …it has become one of the must-see attractions of Yunnan. There is now a road through the gorge from Qiaotou which brings busloads of visitors each day…(Brandt, 2001)
No guidebook provided anything remotely resembling a historical account of Hutiao Xia, and only Brandt devoted more than a half-page to the area. As such, this part of the preliminary survey was quite useless. Attention was next directed to identifying archaeological and historical sources, but before discussing the outcome, it is probably appropriate to provide a brief description of the upper path as it was in September 2001.
Overview of the Upper Route through Tiger Leaping Gorge
The upper path through Hutiao Xia starts just inside the western entrance to the gorge, perhaps a mile from Qiaotou. For the most part it weaves its way along the northern wall between two and three thousand feet above the river. In places it climbs higher to cross ridges and watercourses, in others it falls to pass through villages and hamlets nestled in valleys high on the side of Haba Shan. Shortly after Nuo Yu a higher route climbs rapidly up the side of Haba Shan. A middle route continues on through the gorge, and while it too climbs the flank of the mountain, it does so in less spectacular style until a pass referred to by European travellers as the twenty-nine bends is reached. This pass ascends, as the name suggests, in a series of zigzags to a height of eight thousand eight hundred feet (according to our Garmin GPS), after which point to again starts to descend into high mountain valleys perched high on the side of the Shan. Two substantial villages are encountered after this point on this route, the second of which is Bendi Wan. At Bendi Wan there is now a guesthouse catering for travellers. It is ten miles (sixteen kilometres) from Qiaotou, and half-way between Qiaotou and Daju, the nearest towns to either end of the gorge.
After Bendi Wan village, the route stays for the most part at an altitude of perhaps 7,500 feet, until descending quite rapidly to Walnut Grove. From Walnut Grove the route now follows the motor road eight or nine miles to Daju. We are not aware of any alternate to this current practice. From an archaeological viewpoint almost all of the route is intensely interesting, with the section from Bendi Wan until the descent starts into Walnut Grove being worthy of detailed examination. It is reasonably apparent that several modifications have been made to parts of the route on account of geological events. Because of this there is room for speculation that the track in the vicinity of the descent into Walnut Grove originally continued at a higher altitude, but that landslides, rock falls and, ultimately, disuse caused the old route to be abandoned.
Walnut Grove has a relatively long association with foreigners and is the site of at least three guesthouses offering spectacular views of the gorge. At this point the sheer mass of Yulong Shan towers over the gorge as if to engulf the Yangsi and everything else in its path 1 Which in fact is what it is doing – Yulong Shan probably represents the leading edge of a Tectonic plate . Although the outlook at Bendi Wan displays the grandeur of Yulong Shan and its jagged peaks, that at Walnut Grove is absolutely awe-inspiring – as highlighted in Fig 10 later.
Construction and Width
For the most part the upper route through Hutiao Xia is not more than two or three feet wide, typically that of a mule path through the mountains. In places it is even narrower, especially after the split into two separate paths, when the lower one in places is formed of steps over a rocky ridge, with a width no more than two feet – see Fig 5. We have reservations about the present utility of these parts of the route to any but foot traffic, although historical accounts suggest they have been traversed by mules in the past. There is also considerable evidence that the path was once wider, and in many places its original profile is easily discerned once the encroachments of vegetation and the impact of erosion are taken into account.
Where necessitated by the steepness of the slope being traversed, the outer edge of the path has been built up with a dry-stone levee. Over time, where it has not fallen away, this has been stabilised by vegetation and in many places is quite unnoticeable. In other places the path has been cut into the rock face, with a race along the innermost edge carrying water from some mountain stream for an as yet unidentified purpose. Several generations of race can be observed in places, some, clearly of more recent vintage, being constructed of iron or steel. Other places have been repaired using half logs which have either been hollowed or were originally so.
In many places the gradient is gentle and apart from the effects of altitude, walking is not particularly challenging. However, where a ridge is crossed or a rock-fall appears to have destroyed the original route, the path is steep and relatively difficult.
Remnants of stone paving are encountered in several places, especially where there is a likelihood of erosion by water rushing across the route. In one place a large stone slab still forms a bridge, in the manner used on Imperial roads. This and the remnants of paving strongly suggest that the path was constructed at least in the same manner as Chinese Imperial roads elsewhere in Yunnan and Sichuan. That those roads were paved with granite slabs is well documented, even though by the time Gill, Hosie and Jack traversed them (see later) they were in a poor state of repair. Regardless, the middle route through Hutiao Xia eventually falls rapidly away to the hamlet of Walnut Grove. The most obvious feature of the path here is its lack of construction as it wends its way in an irregular fashion down a slope of loose rock and scrubby Rhododendron vegetation. It is at this point in particular that it would appear the original route has been abandoned, that now used picking its way over the aftermath of some massive rock fall.
The uppermost branch of the path through Hiatiou Xia, is not now followed by many foreign visitors, and due to time constraints, was not included in this evaluation. That the route climbs steeply upwards shortly after leaving Nuo Yu suggests that it forms a more direct route over the mountain towards, perhaps, Haba Village, or even Baishuitai 2 We have, on two occasions, visited Baishuitai but a paper on that truly beautiful and probably extremely important site awaits development. A very brief and inadequate evaluation suggests that it is wider than the one followed into Walnut Grove, and that it is probably in current usage as a more direct route between Nuo Yu and the valley beyond Haba Shan.
Shortly after Nuo Yu, on the traverse of a particularly rocky slope, a feature was noted that may be the remains of another ancient, now disused, Imperial road. The formation is perhaps eight feet wide, and very badly eroded. Weather conditions prevented the capture of a satisfactory photograph, but a more formal evaluation is very clearly desirable. This should include, at the very least, a review of the route upwards until a change in the slope or direction is found. If a geological feature, it would ultimately either flow into the mountainside or simply cease to exist, but it is at least worth speculating that the feature would ultimately merge with the route of the uppermost track now followed over Haba Shan. If so, it may be a remnant that pre-dates the Islamic rebellion that engulfed most of this country between 1855 and 1873. Although historic texts mention these Imperial roads and other ancient routes, very little knowledge of them has survived. However, maps, prepared by the early European visitors 3 especially Joseph Rock and perhaps by Chinese scholars, quite possibly include these routes, and the level of detail available in them may be sufficient to assist the present line of enquiry.
Early European Travel in North-West Yunnan.
The first European to travel anywhere in the vicinity of Hutiao Xia was very likely Marco Polo, who definitely recorded having visited Dali and Kunming. After him the next European visitor was possibly Abbe Huc, a Jesuit priest who travelled through the general area in the 1830s, but we have not been able to confirm that proposition. By 1868 other foreign travellers had started to venture into this part of the Chinese interior, even though such travel continued to be extremely rare. One of these was Louis de Carne, another T.T.Cooper. But it was not until 1873, when the British engineered a diplomatic incident, that access to the interior of China became more commonplace. That incident was the death of Augustus Raymond Margery, and is the subject of a separate paper 4 for ‘is’ read ‘may eventually be’ . Gill and Hosie, both travelling in the mid to late 1870s now visited the area, as did Jack in 1900. An overview of their travels, and those of de Carne, Cooper and others, is presented below.
T.T. Cooper Travels of a Pioneer of Commerce John Murray, London, 1871
In a brief preface, Cooper apologises for the ‘geographical nomenclature adopted’, and indicates the difficulties of transmitting the Chinese names of places through Portuguese and French media – so that Pekin is Pa-Chin, Chung-King is Chung Ching and the like.
Cooper’s travels took place in 1868, at the height of the Muslim rebellion 5 Another paper just begging for attention in Yunnan Province. He travelled up the Yangzi Jiang to Chunking during the early months of 1868, from where he travelled overland, reaching Litang (in western Sichuan) during the second week of May. From that place he travelled to Batang and then down the valley of the Lancang Jiang and overland again to Dali. Cooper’s route circumvented Lijiang and the area in which we are interested. However, the map that was published with his book shows an unmentioned route which appears to cross the Jinsha Jiang somewhere well above Lijiang. This unexplained feature may indicate the location of a generally accepted trade route running from somewhere north of Chengdu southward into Laos, but it does not appear to relate to our present interest.
Louis de Carné Travels in Indo-China and the Chinese Empire Chapman & Hall, London 1872
Louis De Carné left Saigon {now Ho Chi Minh City] in June 1866 on a journey of exploration which took him into Yunnan, Sichuan and eastern Tibet, again at the height of the Muslim insurrection. He reached Kunming in December 1867, and provides an interesting cameo of that place, before travelling to Dali sometime after January 8, 1868. Although mentioning Lijiang and a distant view of Yulong Shan, de Carné did not visit the vicinity of Hutiao Xia. Nor does the accompanying map assist in understanding the unidentified route on that provided by Cooper.
Alexander Hosie A Journey in South-western China, from Ss-ch’uan to Western Yunnan in The Geographical Journal , Royal Geographical Society, London, 1886
This document was read before a meeting of the Royal Geographical Society on the evening of February 22nd, 1886. The map which accompanied Hosie’s presentation appears to contain some significant errors as to the course of the Jinsha Jiang, but the document itself probably represents the first European reference to the upper Yangzi gorges:
“Further south, however, a brooklet rising in the east of the plain and strengthened by another from the west flows down to the Chin-sha Chiang. As the river is approached, the plain (a great part of which was lying waste while the remainder was growing crops of sugar-cane, cotton, poppy, and beans) contracts, and is blocked to the south by low hills, on reaching which the road turns west and south-west to the market town of Chin-chiang-kai on the left bank of the Golden River. At this point the river presents a striking contrast to its appearance as it flows through the central and eastern provinces of China. About 300 yards in breadth, its clear waters flow gently east through a bed of shingle, soon, however, to be cooped up in wild mountain gorges, and ultimately to issue as a turbid muddy river, to become more turbid and muddy as it nears the sea. The river was still low: the melted snows from the Tibetan mountains had not yet descended to stir the quietude of its crystal waters, but the granite foundations on which the houses of Chin-chiang-kai are built, strongly shored as they are with wooden planks at a height of 50 feet above the shingle bed, indicate the addition which the present waters may annually expect.
Hosie was a British Consular Official, based in Chungking. His travels in western China took place in 1882, 1883 and 1884, but there are reasons to question Hosie’s account. Other travellers, including Gill (1878) comment upon the muddy waters of the Jinsha Jiang, regardless of the time of year involved. Hosie states the waters are clear. Jack (1904 – below) does not mention Hosie’s “Chin-chiang-kai” or show it on his route maps. but shows Hosie’s route crossing the Yangzi at a point south of Lijiang. This significant difference, the mention of a market town called Chin-chiang-kai on the left bank, and the clarity of the water might even suggest the river he had in mind was not the Jinsha Jiang at all. If so, then gorge he mentions could not be that one now called Hutiao Xia, even though in other respects the river described by Hosie is similar to that of the Yangzi in the vicinity of Qiaotou.
Another source from the same author, Hosie’s Three Years in Western China contains identical information.
R. Logan Jack The Back Blocks of China, Edward Arnold, London, 1904
Jack was a mining engineer who had journeyed from Australia to Sichuan province in January 1900 in that capacity. His observations of geological formations and his description of travel up the Yangzi Jiang are intensely interesting as are his observations on the people and places he visited. His assignment was interrupted by the Boxer uprising. Because of the uncertainties associated with that nation-wide uprising against foreign control he then left China by way of Myanmar, travelling overland and avoiding where possible any major population centres. During his ‘flight’ from Sichuan to Myanmar he visited Lijiang and from there journeyed to Shigu, having crossed the Jinsha Jiang less than a hundred and fifty kilometres below Lijiang. Maps of Jack’s route confirm that he did not traverse Hutiao Xia and no mention of the gorge is made in his text. He did, however pass much closer to Hutiao Xia than any other European travellers we have studied, and it is almost frustrating to realise just how closely his route ran to the area of our present interest.
To summarise, none of these early travellers mention Hutiao Xia, and none appear to have traversed the gorge. A reason for this is found in the purpose of their travels. Gill and especially Hosie were on more-or-less official journeys to identify opportunities for trade and routes suited to that purpose, while Jack was withdrawing from Yunnan on account of the Boxer uprising against foreigners. These purposes would tend to preclude a visit to the gorge to admire its scenery.
Historical Accounts of European Travel through Hutiao Xia itself.
Although a review of the published accounts of Abbe Huc suggest he never visited the vicinity of Lijiang or that part of the Yangzi Jiang which includes Hutiao Xia, other early Christian missionaries may have traversed the gorge. No reference has been found to support that proposition, but at the same time only the most casual perusal of available sources relating to Christian missions in western Yunnan has been completed. A promising line of enquiry, being the travels of a British adventurer (Dingle) in 1910 was pursued in some detail. That too proved fruitless, even though he definitely travelled to Dali and made mention of Lijiang.
By 1910 European and American “plant-hunters” such as Rock, Forrest, and Kingdon-Ward were beginning to infiltrate the general region of Lijiang as elsewhere in western Yunnan, Sichuan and eastern Tibet. Of the “plant-hunters” George Forrest was the senior, having been active in north-western Yunnan since 1905. All combed the remote valleys for botanical specimens that were as-yet unknown outside China, and certainly visited places such as Huatiao Xia. Although it is very possible Forrest had visited the area, the earliest reference yet found to Hutiao Xia is one made by Joseph Rock. This was in a 1925 article published in The National Geographic Magazine.
Rock, born in Austria, was one of the more notorious 20th century plant hunters. He spent perhaps twenty years in the west of Yunnan province, and is mentioned in many sources in a variety of lights. Some recent observations suggest he is not necessarily a reliable source, particularly where there is an opportunity for self-aggrandisment. Rock is also now accused of misappropriating Naxi-language texts entrusted to him, and of a variety of other unworthy acts.
Rock’s article in The National Geographic Magazine from 1925 has been evaluated, together with another record created by Gerald Reitlinger. Reitlinger traversed the gorge in the winter months of 1937/38 with two European companions, four porters, a cook and three mules. The outcome of these evaluations is contained in the next few sections. Suprisingly the information about Hutiao Xia contained in the more-or-less learned article by Rock is more impressionist than detailed. However, when it is combined with that written in a more literary style by others, an overall picture emerges which is of great interest.
Joseph F Rock Through the Great River Trenches of Asia in The National Geographic Magazine, National Geographical Society, August, 1926
“By far the finest of all the gorges in Yunnan are those through which the Yangzi flows north of Lijiang, as it slashes through the mighty snow range…
“From Shi-Ku [Shigu], where the Yangzi turns north, flowing parallel to itself, the waters are broad and placid, the current gentle, and near Yulo, where the ferry plies, one would never dream that only a few miles farther on the river becomes a mad torrent flowing through a terrifying gorge.
“The Yangzi flows at 6,000 feet elevation where it enters the gorge, and as the peaks of the range it pierces as with a giant’s sword are more than 19,000 feet in height, the gorge is approximately 13,000 feet in depth.
“In many places the river is only 20 yards wide and is one continuous series of cascades and rapids. The actual depth of the water must be enormous, for the vast placid stream is here compressed into a narrow ribbon of white foam…
“The cliffs rise steeply on both sides, culminating in jagged crags and pinnacles, and above these tower the ice-crowned peaks of the Likiang [Lijiang] snow range.
“We entered the gorge after having crossed the Chungtien River, which flows into the Yangzi. A narrow trail for mules with Tibetan saddles permits ingress to Loyü [Nuo Yu], a hamlet within the gorge.
“From here the path can be used only by porters and leads at times 2,500 feet above the river. On the right cliff, perched in a small hollow, is a Lissu village, accessible only with great difficulty, while on the left are three small hamlets, veritable castles on the rocky bluffs. Beyond Djpalo it is possible to go down to the river bank and watch the rapids’
“For three days the journey lasts, until Taku [Daju] is reached. Beyond Pentiwan [Bendi Wan], the third hamlet in the gorge, the trail is exceedingly dangerous, as rock slides occur continuously.
As the ferry at Taku was smashed by the Tibetan hordes in April, 1923, and the owner placed in jail for possessing such a convenience for travellers, we were forced to return to Yulo, where we found another ferry.
“From Taku the Yangzi flows north, only to return again above Fungkou, by Lap, where it flows in rocky gorges worked by Nashi [Naxi] gold-diggers, who sell their precious metal to dealers in Likiang.”
At no time does Rock give the gorge a name resembling that by which it is now known, but at least as interesting is mention that a ferry existed across the Yangzi at Daju in 1923. Such a convenience was not necessarily for the use of travellers venturing along the Yangzi valley, but it would certainly have been available to them. The names of towns have not changed, although guidebooks now suggest that it is nearer to Bendi Wan that an approach the river can be made. Of course, Bendi Wan is “beyond Djpalo” so one could consider Rock’s description of the route to concur with those now provided. Meanwhile his comment that rock slides occur continuously beyond Bendi Wan is extremely relevant, confirming as it does, our evaluation of the upper routes 80 years later.
Perhaps on account of Rock’s article, north-western Yunnan now started to become more widely known, although still extremely remote and difficult of access for Europeans. More-or-less famous foreign visitors during the 1920s were Panda-hunting 6 see Theodore Roosevelt and Kermit Roosevelt Trailing the Giant Panda Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York & London, 1929 Theodore and Kermit Roosevelt, and Suydam Cutting, whose visit is mentioned on this site in a page that suggests the location of Shangri La. More-or-less stable Christian missions had been established by 1925 in Dali, Lijiang and various places to the north in Sichuan province. A mission outpost also existed in the late 1930’s at Daju, and European ethnographic researchers, such as C.P.Fitzgerald were resident in Dali by 1938. Fitzgerald accompanied Reitlinger (below) on his January 1938 adventure through the gorge.
Gerald Reitlinger South of the Clouds Faber & Faber, London, 1939(n.d.)
Reitlinger’s work is fascinating – he states at the beginning that it is neither scientific or entertainment, but an account of travel in Yunnan. As such it is immensely valuable, and provides some interesting comment which continues to be valid sixty or more years later. It also, by the way, contains some marvellous insights into certain Europeans who travelled in Yunnan at the time. We have excluded those references, but for an evaluation of Christian missionaries at the time, they are quite useful. Reitlinger describes travel through ‘the gorge’ in December 1937. He travelled from Daju, in the opposite direction to that we and Joseph Rock have described above. At the time it was not ‘Tiger Leaping Gorge”, at least to Reitlinger, but, as suggested by one of his travelling companions, he may have been mistaken in that regard.
“In the one dusty street of Taku [Daju] , we found the Fu-Ying-tang without difficulty… “Ho arrived, overflowing with information. We must give up all thought, he said, of taking the horses through the gorge. They would have to make a detour far inland from the river through Chung Tien and the road went right up into the snow. It might take a week and we might meet bandits. It sounded bad but we had to make allowances for Ho’s poetic gifts. It was agreed that he should go out with Mr Tsao to find porters and obtain information, while we walked to the river and examined the country for ourselves.
“Only one mule-highway entered the town…I believe a Yunnan mule would climb a garden wall. Nothing at least would dissuade it from trying…
“The great river, which in Yunnan is never know by its international name of Yangzi and is called the Chin Chiang, was a mile and a half out of Taku at the bottom of a ditch cutting through the cultivated plain…We could not gauge the size of the brown swirling stream, three or four hundred feet below. The ferry was shown only by a rough track, winding down the bluff and disappearing among bushes, and by a scrap of white beach peeping out immediately beneath it. Looking upstream the trench wriggled through a narrowing plain on which closed the black flanks of the Snow Mountain and Ha Pa’Shan [Haba Shan]…The blockhouse was put up two years ago to stop the Communists from crossing the Yangzi in their journey north round the fringe of China. They crossed here, nevertheless, and began their trek along the Tibetan Marches from the other bank…
“Ho made new enquiries…We could make the journey through the gorge to Ch’iao T’ou [Qiaotou] in three days, of which the first would be a short one going little beyond the ferry, The horses…could follow us, but most of the load would have to go by porters…Ho went off to finish his shopping… He had discovered the entirely new notion that unnecessary and uncomfortable excursions from the beaten track meant more profits for himself. Would we, he asked, like to visit the Fu Ti’ao Chiang, only one day’s march down the river? The what? Said Fitzgerald, considering this linguistic poser. The Fu Ti’ao Chiang, don’t you see? FOO Ti’ao Chiang; Foo-oo-ooo Ti’ao Chiang. We could not get it.
“Ho placed two mule pack-saddles conveniently near each other, climbed on to one, lifted the skirts of his coat, and jumped lightly on to the other, at the same time rolling his eyes, sticking out his front teeth, and roaring like a wild beast. He did this three or four times.
“’Ah,’ said Fitzgerald, ‘I see. “Hu Ti’ao Chiang,” Tiger-Jump River?’
“This meant that there was a place where the Yangzi narrowed and where there was a rock in the middle. The legend was that a tiger had once used the rock to jump the river. In Yunnan and Szechwan a lot of h’s become f’s, hence the mystery. However, we all discovered that we disliked sightseeing and we wanted to get on with the momentous gorge; so we never saw the Tiger-Jump, and for months afterwards paid the penalty. Whenever we met any Chinese who were interested in our journey they all asked if we had seen this famous place and could scarcely believe that we had been so near without visiting it. By this omission we betrayed our ignorance and want of sensibility that must forever tell against us. Many years to come it will be cited as an example of European crassness…
Now for Reitlinger’s account of Tiger Leaping Gorge, although he does not refer to it by that name… Day One from Daju (or as then named Taku):
“The next day’s stage was so short that we did not leave till eleven o’clock… Mr Tsao came in from a country walk with the four bearers whom he had found for us…The bearers were called beize men, on account of the long bucket-shaped baskets in which they arranged their loads…
“Guarding the entrance [to the gorge] was a spur with some maize terraces and a few houses on top. These, said Ho, were the Hei Ho Ch’ia, the Black River Houses, where we should have to sleep as there were no more houses for fifty li…Ho was a little annoyed that we did not like the hotel…we left the log cabins followed by the dogs and children…[and] found a terrace [with] room for the two tents and a boulder sheltered them from the main force of the ta feng, which we now began to take more seriously.
Reitlinger’s description of their journey is so full of information that it is difficult to parse it to suit the present needs. Accordingly, and to avoid interrupting a narrative which is at least as valuable as the source material, it has been quoted almost its entirety. Reitlinger confirms a suspicion that parts of the upper path have since been destroyed or at least become disused – the one followed by Reitlinger in approaching from Daju rose to a height of 5000 feet or more above the river before descending to Walnut Grove.
“The trail dropped more than two thousand feet, nearly half-way to the river, to a point where its roaring over the many rapids could be heard, and the foam and spray distinguished, then it turned upwards as sharply as it had done in the morning. It skirted several bays in a protruding cliff, and at dusk fell gently into the haze of the gulf, where there rose a spur with a different vegetation, dwarf bamboos and hemp grass. On the edge of the spur was a group of three or four log cabins, only defined by their vertical smoke. This was the `Walnut-tree Garden’.
“The place owned neither walnut-trees nor a garden…The maize terraces were hacked out of a cliff. From the one which we chose it was an uninterrupted roll to the Yangzi. It seemed a better home for eagles than for men.
“There was a spring, no more than a trickle from the rock, soaking its way from terrace to terrace, and it was fouled at the source by cattle; our thirst had to wait till it was possible to boil water for tea. It took some eloquence from Ho before the villagers would agree to take the members of the caravan into their draughty homes, or allow us to use the fields. We had to borrow a hoe to level the ground and get rid of some of the maize stalks. We were helped by an infant of about six, who spoke well for the climate of the gorge… a very sturdy child with a clear skin and looking well fed…
The lower path, along the river, was at the time broken by a rock fall which had taken away part of the route. The upper path, which they traversed on the second day, is described in detail.
“This was the first morning that we woke up in the gorge. As soon as I started to walk I felt a sense of elation. A tight-rope existence spent balancing on rocky ledges seemed the best of prospects. Physical discomfort soon killed this feeling… Fitzgerald and H. J. tried to overcome the mountain-sickness by walking very slowly and steadily at about one mile an hour and without resting. I preferred to copy the Na-Shi beidzes, who went at it in rushes, pausing to lean their loads against a rock, their legs planted wide apart and their tongues lolling in their exhaustion…
“Our midday halt was at a farm, deserving that name more than any of the log hovels we had yet seen. Here were clay models of holy mountains on an altar like those in the haunted house in Li-Chiang, which I took to mean that the people were unmixed Na-Shi; their religion is the old nature worship of Central Asia, a little influenced by Buddhism. The women had the same fresh looks as in Li-Chiang, contrasting with the puckered ruggedness of our beidze men, but they were camera shy, like Chinese women and not like Tibetans. Ho managed to buy good Pu Erh tea from them and three eggs, but these were the limits of their resources, so we christened the place, in the manner of Na-Shi villages, the `three-egg farm’. From this farm there was another drop towards the river-bed, and this was the worst part of the trail through the gorge, frequently broken by loose shale, and in one place blocked by a boulder which the mules had to slide down on all four feet. For the first time the Ma brothers might have been in danger of losing their animals, and they showed it by their silence. Four thousand feet below, where a bit of the Yangzi showed as a black thread, there was a glacis formed by a tremendous landslide from the top of the Snow Mountain…
“The mules, though only Ho took the risk of riding them, got down the slope a great deal quicker than we did, and suddenly we found our usual situation reversed. They had disappeared out of sight beyond the next spur and we had been left behind. There were several trodden tracks, all leaving the lower levels where there was some cultivation, and mounting the slope of Ha Pa’ Shan. Had the mules gone down or up? We went down and reached a stockaded group of farms, where we asked a woman in a Na-Shi poke-bonnet, who seemed to talk Chinese, if she had seen the mules. Both she and her neighbours were incapable, from fear or the slowness of their mental process, of answering any question. We retraced our steps, bore right and struck another group of farms with the same dumb response. By this time we had lost the original track by which we had come. We were deep down in the gorge and before four o’clock in the afternoon the sun would have disappeared over the mountains, leaving us in chilly darkness, and our caravan well ahead.
We started up a goat track winding among the scrub, but it gave out without warning. Then we saw to the west a goatherd using another track. We cut across the scrub to join him. The sight of three men, so outlandish in their dress that they might have come out of the moon, did not upset him. ‘Ch’iao T’ou,’ we shouted at him. He raised his eyebrows a little and pointed straight above his head as if meaning the top of the mountain. We asked him a number of questions, all of which he answered by waving violently in the same direction. It seemed good enough.
Half an hour’s scramble brought us to a broad path with recent hoof marks, and the tracks of a straw-soled slipper such as the beidze men wore, but they had a long start over us. It was not till a few minutes’ walk from the end of the stage that we caught them up. They had unloaded the mules, and all eight of them sprawled on the ground looking very pleased with themselves. It had not occurred even to Ho to send a search party and their attitude was one of reproach for dawdling about. We were speechless with rage and wind. We had been walking for two days at mountaineers’ altitudes and our strength of vituperation had diminished.
Liang Chia Ch’uan, the two-house village, differed from the others by having a single magnificent cherry tree in full bloom; there was the usual hunt for a camping ground among dung and maize stalks…
“Half a mile past the two-house village the path doubled into a cleft with a waterfall and forest trees. If there was room in the cleft for tents we could avoid the squalor of the village. We found that there was exactly room for the tents on the path itself, but the guy ropes had to be secured on to rocks above and below the ledge.
Having barricaded the path we had to make a stockade on either side against mules and cattle. We used logs from the bridge which carried the path across the waterfall. There remained but to hope that no benighted traveller with his animals would come through the gorge. There was so little room that we lowered our boxes on to some flat stones in the bed of the torrent and relied on the waterproof covers of the Everest tents to keep out the spray. The owners of the two houses came out to watch the madness of the foreigners, who preferred sleeping almost under water on the edge of a cliff to the hospitality of their homes. It looked mad enough but it turned out to be the best camping ground we had yet had…
“Lying in the Everest tents and listening to the waterfall dashing past our heads was sublime.
And finally day three from Daju, and their arrival at Qiaotou…
“The morning saw a new triumph of Ho in the art of collecting retainers. Breakfast was served by the four Na-Shi carriers. They had got out of bed before the Ma brothers and were showing themselves very smug about it. Most likely the `two-house village’ had produced no opium. Being amateurs they worked with enthusiasm, and when the mules arrived they had the tents down and the loads ready on the saddles. But the Ma brothers would not hurry because they said Ch’iao T’ou was only half a day’s stage, thirty mountain Ii. It took less than four hours.
“Soon the gorge began to lose its savagery. The opposite wall turned from its mineral blue to brown and acquired a slope, then forest trees, and at last cultivation terraces, log-cabins, and a path winding up into the snow-line. There was still a drop of more than three thousand feet before we reached the tributary stream of Ch’iao T’ou; in the approaching river plain, still many miles away, we could see a green country, but the trail got no better. It skirted an absolute precipice, unmodified by trees or boulders; a precipice that made even Ho dismount.
“Two hours later we looked on to the Ch’iao T’ou River flowing into a long reach of the Yangzi from which rolled an early morning mist. We saw the white smoke of cabins, distant dotted ferry-boats, and bright green patches of sugar-cane. This was the end of the gorge. Since leaving the Black River Houses we had spent fifteen hours on foot, walking more than thirty miles in overcoming a map distance of nine.“
With the exception that there is no longer such a steep climb out of Daju, the upper route through Tiger Leaping Gorge has not changed significantly from Reitlinger’s 1937 description. His description of the track after leaving Walnut Grove suggests that even then any ancient path had fallen into disuse. The next village on from Walnut Grove is now Bendi Wan, although there is another just a little further on. The ‘two house village” after the descent where the party became separated, is Nuo Yu village. The descent itself is in the general vicinity of the 28 bends. The possibility that some parts of the track there have changed has already been suggested. but unfortunately Reitlinger’s account does little to assist in this respect. No doubt all the villages have grown and it is similarly very likely that the structures have become more substantial. Naxi log-built homes have generally been replaced by ones made from other materials. But the track itself with the exception of those several places where landslides and rock falls have forced a deviation, has changed very little.
An account of the gorge trip written by Charles Patrick Fitzgerald, Reitlinger’s second companion on the journey has also been reviewed. Fitzgerald’s account was published in the Geographical Journal, the journal of the Royal Geographical Society, in 1942. It conforms almost with that of Reitlinger, but is presented in a less literary style. The most significant exception is that Fitzgerald does refer to the gorge as Hu Ti’ao Chiang, or The Tiger’s Leap, mentioning that, “so far as it is known at all, is usually called the Likiang gorge by foreign travellers”. Fitzgerald’s account confirms that a third foreigner in the party, referred to as “ H.J.” by Reitlinger, was W. Hope-Johnson. At the time, C.P. Fitzgerald was resident in Dali, and had lived in China since 1923. Between 1937 and 1938 he studied and recorded the lifestyle of the Bai minority people, or ‘Min Cha’ as they were then called in Chinese. He left China in January 1939, but returned in June 1946 to Chungking, Nanking and eventually Beijing, where he stayed until 1950. As far as can be ascertain he never again visited Dali, but the work he did during those two years with the Min Cha is immensely valuable. In 1950 he was invited to occupy the chair of Professor of Far-Eastern History at the Australian National University, Canberra, which post he occupied until 1969. C.P.Fitzgerald died in 1992 having left a legacy for South-western China, and Dali in particular, which as yet is not fully appreciated.
As for Reitlinger, he had tried unsuccessfully to visit Tibet in April 1936. At that time he was living in Beijing. After his attempt for Tibet, he returned to England, and was there when Japan invaded China later that same year. The introduction to his book – South of the Clouds – gives the rest of the detail:
“One day, more than a year later, I had a letter from H. J., whom I had last seen in Peking; he was in Bali, having completed a journey from Yün-nanfu in China through Tong-King and Laos by the Mekong River to Siam; thence by train and steamer to the islands. This had not satisfied his appetite for travel and his letter revived mine. With the Japanese advancing up the Yangtze and astride the two main railways, it seemed certain that a journey northwards from the Indo-China border would have to turn back at some point, but at least we would not have to retrace our steps entirely, for there was still a way out of China through northern Burma. As it turned out, the Japanese advance was not as rapid as the world had anticipated. By starting earlier I might have carried out my original idea of a journey along the borders of Tibet as far north as Ta Chien Lu and then turned east to the new provisional capital, Chung-King on the Yangtze; thence to Hong Kong by using the river steamers to Hankow, and the bombed, though still functioning, railway southwards. This, of course, at the time was quite unforeseeable.
“It was decided that we should meet at Bangkok in Siam, travel east to Hanoi by motor and train, and there take a chance on the railway being open to Yün-nanfu, where we would make our plans according to the situation. In Yün-nanfu we were able to consult Dr. Joseph Rock, the botanist and philologist, who knows northern Yunnan better than any foreigner living in China. To him we owed the itinerary through the great Yangtze gorge which is the subject of half this book. It was a much shorter and less impressive journey than the one I had wanted to make, but it was almost certainly more interesting.
“Our starting-off point for the journey to the gorge was the city of Tali, about three hundred miles west of Yün-nanfu and accessible by motor-road. Here we were able to join forces with Fitzgerald, who was planning a journey of anthropological observation among the mountain tribes. After the journey through the gorge we left him at Shih Ku and returned to Tali, in order to rejoin the Burma road…“
South Of the Clouds was Gerald Reitlinger’s first book. He later wrote several others, mostly upon topics associated with the German treatment of Jewish populations in Europe during World War II, including what is regarded by some as the definitive history of the SS. Reitlinger died in 1988. His later books (at least) are regarded as being more carefully researched than many of their genre.
By 1943 Yunnan Province, and in particular Kunming and Lijiang, had become the focus of efforts to supply war materials to China first through Myanmar and then by air and through Tibet. It is very probable that useful documentation from this period is in existence, but for the present such material is unnecessary.
Summary
Historical accounts dating from the 1920s and 1930s confirm that the legend of the Tiger Jump Rock was well known within China at that time. They also confirm that the Chinese name for what Europeans called the Lijiang Gorge was Hutiao Xia. In 1985 C.P.Fitzgerald stated categorically that there was no spot assigned to the tiger for his leap, but also commented “no doubt one day the tourist industry will remedy that omission”.
Gerald Reitlinger subsequently made a name for himself through carefully researched and documented accounts of Nazi German atrocities. Because of that reputation for accuracy there is little reason to question his statement that the Tiger Jump Rock was one day downstream from Daju. As for routes through Hutiao Xia the accounts seen confirm at least two paths existed in the 1930s. At Christmas 1937 the lower was blocked by a rock fall. In this lies a quandary – if Reitlinger was mistaken, and the Tiger Jump Rock was within the gorge it may be that the rock fall was upstream of Bendi Wan. If so it was therefore accessible from Daju as a separate journey and as proposed by Reilinger’s cook – Ho. But there is a complication in that it was also possible to ‘approach the river from the heights of Bendi Wan. If so, then a separate journey to see the Tiger Jump Rock would not have been necessary. Therefor, if Reitlinger was not mistaken, and Ho was not confused, it should be possible to identify the “original” Tiger Jump Rock one day’s journey downstream of Daju. The obvious solution is to investigate the river below Daju for other Tiger Jump Rocks. But then, Fitzgerald states that a tiger jump rock did not exist at all…
The photographs which accompany this paper show many parts of the upper track through Hutiao Xia. An examination of those photographs will confirm that even in the most restricted places the formation of that upper track could easily have accommodated a wider pathway. Erosion and lack of maintenance has caused the outer edge to fall away, and in many places the inside edge of the track was been washed out. Of course the photographs do not show the entire length of the track, and at the descent into Walnut Grove and the ascent represented by the 28 bends only a foot-track now exists. However, there is a body of evidence to suggest these parts of the track are of more recent date. That near Walnut Grove is most likely less that seventy years old, the original track, as used by Rock and Reitlinger having been caried away or buried by a rock fall some time since 1938.
The 28 bends are also of recent origin. Although the evidence is not so clear, this is probably the area where Reitlinger became separated from his carriers, mules and Ho. The scanty description he provides does not assist interpretation, but the differences between this place and the majority of the track suggest that the 28 bends are out of context, at least as much so as the descent into Walnut Grove.
In September 2001 a formation was noted which was reminiscent of a disused Imperial road in the general area of Nuo Yu, as well as a higher track perhaps leading over the mountain. This lends credence to the possibility that a number of routes exist in the vicinity. Also close to Nuo Yu was a ridge reached after a more-or-less arduous climb. On the brow of that ridge was a stone-built ruin, that of a reasonably substantial structure in some ways similar to that which we photographed at Walnut Grove. The formation of a less-used route was noted in this vicinity. This less-used route ran back towards Nuo Yu at a much more gentle gradient than that now used, and could perhaps descend into Nuo Yu along the line of either the higher track or the formation already mentioned. Clearly this area warrants more detailed investigation, especially having regard Reitlinger’s description of the locality where he became separated from the rest of the party. It would also be interesting to identify the cleft and waterfall where Reitlinger camped across the track in the vicinity of what was then a two-house hamlet.
There are parts of the present track just upstream of Nuo Yu which are also out of context. This suggests the cleft where Reitlinger and Fitzgerald camped is not on the route now used. Our preliminary suggestion is that evidence will be found that this part of the track is a deviation to facilitate access to Nuo Yu or because the original route has, as elsewhere, become unusable. Alternately erosion and lack of maintenance has produced a difficult approach where steps or a constructed pathway eased the gradient.
Conclusions
Preliminary assessment of the upper track through Hutiao Xia confirms it was in use long before accomodation-providers at Walnut Grove claim to have pioneered the route. It is of course quite probable that they were responsible for introducing it as an option for present-day European travellers. But the clear evidence for extensive earthworks, slope stabilisation, road formation, rock excavation and paving all confirm this route is far more than a casually-used pathway through the mountains.
Hutiao Xia was locally famous at least in the 1930s and very probably before. The work involved in developing the route to the extent indicated by this preliminary assessment strongly suggests Imperial involvement. The conclusion is is not at all surprising given the likelihood that the valley of the Yangzi Jiang was a natural route to the interior. As such Hutiao Xia would have been regarded with no more trepidation than the gorge which was traversed by tea-coolies west of Tatsien Lu [Kangding], a town in western Sichuan. In fact the route through Hutiao Xia would have been far less arduous and dangerous.
Because of these conclusions, the upper route through Hutiao Xia merits much closer assessment but even now it is possible to state categorically that the upper path represents for the most part an ancient route linking, perhaps, south-easterrn Sichuan with Shigu and eventually the Tibetan Plateau. The borders of Sichuan and Yunnan were criss-crossed with routes such as this, traversed by early European travellers such as Gill and Jack. Although there is an obvious need to evaluate the possibility of extensions to the route, there appears to be no reason why the upper path through Hutiao Xia should not be part of that ancient network.
Sources
Blakiston, T.W. Five Months on the Yantg-Tze 1862
Booz, Patrick R. Yunnan The Guidebook Company Ltd, Hong Kong, 1997.
Cooper, T.T. Travels of a Pioneer of Commerce John Murray, London, 1871
de Carné, Louis Travels in Indo-China and the Chinese Empire Chapman &
Hall, London 1872
Delapore, Louis and Garnier, Francis Voyage d’Exploration en Indo-Chine
Hatchette & Cie, Paris, 1873 (&1885)
D’Orléans, Prince Henri From Tonkin to India, Dodd Mead & Co, New York, 1898
Dingle, Edwin J Across China on Foot Henry Holt & Co, New York, 1911
Fitzgerald, C.P The Tiger’s Leap in The Geographical Journal (September 1941), Royal Geographic Society, London, 1941
Fitzgerald, C.P The Tower of Five Glories The Cresset Press, London, 1941
Fitzgerald, C.P Why China? Melbourne University Press, 1985
Holdsworth, May The Odyssey Illustrated Guide to Sichuan The Guidebook Company Ltd, Hong Kong, 1993
Hosie, Alexander A Journey in South-western China, from Ss-ch’uan to Western Yunnan in The Geographical Journal , Royal Geographical Society, London, 1886
Hosie, Alexander Three Years in Western China George Philip & Son, London, 1897
Huc, Evaristé Regis A Journey through the Chinese Empire, Harper & Bros, New York, 1855
Jack, R. Logan The Back Blocks of China, Edward Arnold, London, 1904
Liou, Caroline et al. China, Lonely Planet Publications, Melbourne, 2000
Margary, Augustus Raymond Journey of Augustus Raymond Margary, Macmillan & Co, London, 1876
Reitlinger, Gerald South of the Clouds Faber & Faber, London, 1939
Rock, Joseph F Through the Great River Trenches of Asia in The National Geographic Magazine, National Geographical Society, Washington April 1926
Contents
Introduction 1
Fig 1. Looking along the new road at the entry to Hutiao Xia from Qiaotou in September 1998. The upper track also traverses this side of the gorge, but at a much higher elevation. 1
Overview of the Upper Routes through Tiger Leaping Gorge 2
Fig 2. The upper track through Hutiao Xia downstream of Bendi Wan. Note the width of the track formation, but in particular the stone slabs used at this location. Their presence confirms that this route was once a made road with a surface of stone slabs as 2
Construction and Width 3
Fig 3. Map of Hutiao Xia (“Tiger Leaping Gorge” derived from a GPS-plotted route along the upper track from Qiaotou to Walnut Grove, then by road to Haba Village. The significant difference in the level of detail between Walnut Grove and Haba Village is du 3
Early European Travel in North-West Yunnan. 4
T.T. Cooper Travels of a Pioneer of Commerce John Murray, London, 1871 4
Fig 4. The upper track downstream of Bendi Wan, showing evidence that it is a made way. Note the disused aqueduct on the inside edge of the formation, and the overhang created by excavation of the cliff to form the route. The width of the formation again 4
Louis de Carné Travels in Indo-China and the Chinese Empire Chapman & Hall, London 1872 5; Alexander Hosie A Journey in South-western China, from Ss-ch’uan to Western Yunnan in The Geographical Journal , Royal Geographical Society, London, 1886 5
Fig 5. Steps on upper track downstream of Bendi Wan. Although also typical of ancient foot-tracks through the border regions of Tibet Sichuan and Yunnan, the formation here is narrower than other parts of the route. The path here was perhaps 50% wider whe 5
R. Logan Jack The Back Blocks of China, Edward Arnold, London, 1904 6
Historical Accounts of European Travel through Hutiao Xia. 6
Fig 6. The Yangzi Jiang south-east of Lijiang in the general vicinity of an ancient bridge used by Jack in 1900, but well upstream of the crossing point used by Hosie in February or March 1883. A foot track follows the route of an old road formation downst 6
Joseph F Rock Through the Great River Trenches of Asia in The National Geographic Magazine, National Geographical Society, August, 1926 7
Fig 7. Looking upstream from the ridge above Bendi Wan. A track formation here suggests the original route which continued at this elevation has been abandoned. 7
Gerald Reitlinger South of the Clouds Faber & Faber, London, 1939 8
Fig 8. Another part of the upper track downstream of Bendi Wan. Here the width of the original formation is obvious, as is the gradient upon which the original route was constructed. 8
Fig 9. Yunnan mules photographed on the lower track through Hutiao Xia in 1998. This photograph was taken near an inn called Ma Ma Fu’s. A Ma Fu is a person who is in charge of horses – most often a carrier. A track led up the side of the gorge from here a 9
Fig 10. The sheer mass of Yulong Shan towering 13,000 feet above the gorge at Walnut Grove. Neither the top nor the bottom of the gorge are visible, but an idea of the scale can be gained by considering the width of the road formation just discernable in t 10
Fig 11. Reitlinger’s photograph taken from the path as it was in 1937 downstream and above Walnut Grove. The present route traverses this part of the gorge at a much lower altitude, perhaps due to the destruction of the original path by landslides or rock 11
Fig 12. Another part of the upper track through Hutiao Xia downstream of Bendi Wan. Note again the aqueduct on the inside edge and the small area of stone paving. The outer edge at this point, as elsewhere, has fallen away, but the original width can be g 12
Summary 13
Fig 13. Two of Reitlinger’s four Naxi porters photographed on the upper path through Hutiao Xia in January 1938. Note the size of the two suitcases they are carrying and their footwear. In addition to the four porters his party had at least three mules, pr 13
Fig 14. An early-morning view of the confluence of the Jinsha Jiang and the Xiao Zhongdian Jiang just below Qiaotou. The outlook and the extensive bed of shingle and mine tailings is most likely similar to that encountered by Reitlinger, Fitzgerald and oth 14
Conclusions 15; Sources 15
- 1Which in fact is what it is doing – Yulong Shan probably represents the leading edge of a Tectonic plate
- 2We have, on two occasions, visited Baishuitai but a paper on that truly beautiful and probably extremely important site awaits development
- 3especially Joseph Rock
- 4for ‘is’ read ‘may eventually be’
- 5Another paper just begging for attention
- 6see Theodore Roosevelt and Kermit Roosevelt Trailing the Giant Panda Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York & London, 1929