Hukou Waterfall, Shanxi, China

摘要

Enclosed between mountain ranges on both sides, the Hukou Waterfall on the Yellow River is formed when the river enters the broad Jinxia Canyon, in which the width of the watercourse is drastically reduced, causing the current to accelerate suddenly. The river, which is flowing at its maximum speed here, plunges into a narrow passage from a height of about 20 meters, resulting in a spectacular churning of the water, clouds of vapor and mist and a deafening roar. The waterfall passes from a flow of 300 cubic meters a second in the winter months, when the water freezes, to 1,000 cubic meters a second at the beginning of the thaw and reaches 8,000 cubic meters when the river is in full spate and the width of the waterfall increases from 30 to 50 meters. The Hukou Waterfall is one of the most majestic natural spectacles in China, and is visited every year by hundreds of thousands of tourists who stand on the edge of the canyon to see the cascade and take photographs. This image draws a parallel between the current practices of mass tourism and the imagery of Romantic painting, in which tiny human figures are viewed in comparison with the dramatic power of natural landscapes and phenomena.