The Tiger Leaping Gorge is a canyon on the Yangtze River – locally called the Golden Sands River – located 60 km north of Lijiang City. It is part of the Three Parallel Rivers of Yunnan Protected Areas World Heritage Site.Around 15 km in length, the gorge is located where the river passes between 5,596-metre Jade Dragon Snow Mountain and 5,396-meter Haba Snow Mountain in a series of rapids under steep 2000 meter cliffs. Legend says that in order to escape from a hunter, a tiger jumped across the river at the narrowest point (still 25 meters wide), hence the name.
