Baishuiyang

Baishuiyang, in Pingnan County inland from Ningde city, is one of those places that photographs cannot quite convey. The Zhoulian River flows across a horizontal slab of granite on a scale that makes it look impossible — a wide, fast, shallow sheet of water over perfectly polished stone, the surface so even that you can walk or wade across it in any direction. Local Chinese call it a "natural swimming pool," though the current is too strong for standing still and the real pleasure is letting the river carry you across the rock.

The site is equipped with a formal entrance fee and changing facilities, but these do not diminish the experience. Go on a weekday to avoid the summer holiday crowds, and bring water shoes — the rock, though smooth, is slippery. The best time is August for the warmest water and September for the beginning of the mandarin duck season. Baishuiyang is about two hours by bus from Ningde city.

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Baishuiyang means "white water plain," which understates the strangeness of the place. The Zhoulian River here flows over an almost perfectly flat slab of polished granite roughly two kilometres long and up to two hundred metres wide. The water — fast, clear, and rarely more than knee-deep — slides over this natural stage without enough turbulence to knock you off your feet, which is why local families spend summer afternoons sliding across it on their backs. In winter, the same river becomes a sanctuary for mandarin ducks from Siberia, sometimes thousands at a time.