White Crane Ridge Underwater Museum

White Crane Ridge is the first hydrological station in the world, also considered as the Database of World Hydrological Information and Underwater Stele Forest. White Crane Ridge is located at Fuling County of Chongqing. It gets its name because white cranes liked to gather on the stone ridge in ancient times.

Gem of Chinese Culture

The length of White Crane Ridge is about 1,600 meters and its width is about 15 meters. Its height is 138 meters and about 2 or 3 meters higher than the water level of Yangtze River. There are 165 inscriptions, about 30,000 Chinese characters. The earliest inscription dates back to Tang Dynasties.

The 18 stone fishes carved on the ridge record the hydrological situations of 72 droughts in the history of 1200 years in China. These precious information reflects the water level changes of Yangtze River and also provides important proof for the research of Yangtze River hydrology and world climate. The constructions of Gezhou Dam and Three Gorges Dam are also based on the information provided by White Crane Ridge. Therefore, White Crane Ridge has become the Ancient Yangtze River Hydrological Station and World Hydrology Database.

White Crane Ridge is also called the only well-preserved ancient hydrology station in the world by UNESCO.

There are also many poets, paintings carved on the ridge. So, it is also a famous cultural relics on Yangtze River.

Underwater Meseum of White Crane Ridge

Due to the construction of Three Gorges Dam, the water level of Yangtze River rises to 185 meters. So, the White Crane Ridge was submerged. In order to protect this precious cultural relics, Chinese government built a meseum underwater. Visitors can walk into water and watch the inscriptions through underwater windows and cameras.

Thanks to this underwater museum, we can watch White Crane Ridge more clearly than before.