Pingshan Gorge 屏山峡谷

About Pingshan Gorge

The gorge is cut below Pingshan, a mountain named for its flat summit and screen-like flanks, which is ringed by the Loushui River and the Heilongyuan stream and stands more than 1,000 metres above the valley floor. The county's own profile attributes the gorge's formation to the Quaternary glacial period and names points along it such as Wuchimen, where the opposing cliffs close in to leave a narrow band of sky, and Adapuzi, where boats and their reflections read as though suspended over water clear enough to see the bottom. That effect is what made the place known: a photograph taken here in 2012 of a boat apparently floating in air circulated widely online, and the gorge acquired the nickname 'China's Semporna'.

Development began with the founding of Hefeng Baotong Tourism Development Co. in 2003, and the scenic area opened formally in May 2019. Cliff walkways, viewing platforms and extra boats were added in the years that followed, and in May 2025 the area reopened after an upgrade that added a floating bridge and a plank walk whose panels carry Tujia xilankapu brocade patterns. The master plan divides the area into six zones — gorge sightseeing, an old village area, the tusi mansion ruins, red-heritage sites, a tusi cave-mansion cultural display and a Tujia folk-custom area — but as of a 2022 county profile only the first phase of the gorge sightseeing zone, with 39 named spots, had been opened. The mountain above carried the seat of the Rongmei tusi, a Tujia native chieftaincy; its mansion was built from the Wanli reign of the Ming and abandoned after the Qing gaitu guiliu reform some 150 years later. In February 1930 He Long and fellow commanders chose the same defensible height for the Hunan-Hubei border Red Army rear hospital.

What to look for

• Wuchimen, where the cliffs on both sides narrow so that only a thread of sky remains overhead
• Adapuzi, where the water is clear enough that boats and their reflections appear to hang above the riverbed
• The small wooden boats worked by local boatmen along the gorge floor
• The cliffside plank walkway, whose panels are decorated with Tujia xilankapu brocade patterns
• The Rongmei tusi mansion ruins on Pingshan village above the gorge, outside the gorge sightseeing route itself

Location & getting there

Getting to Pingshan Gorge

Confirm the visitor entrance and which boat or walking routes operate on your date. Rainfall, water levels and weather can change access.

• Search for 屏山峡谷 with 恩施土家族苗族自治州 and 鹤峰县.