Duoyi River 多依河

About Duoyi River

A path through the scenic area leads first to Feihua Suiyu (Flying Blossoms, Shattered Jade), where the green river water is broken by scattered rocks into spray that flashes in the sunlight, and on to Leigong Tan waterfall, hidden around a bend, where the water falls like a curtain into the forest below. A waterwheel exhibition park was built on the Duoyi River to show visitors the old waterwheel, a device China is said to have invented around 100 BC and since replaced by electric power and pumps; the numerous large and small wheels built along the river's banks were once used to hull rice, grind flour and even saw timber.

Every year on the third day of the third lunar month, young Buyi men and women gather by the river dressed in their finest to race bamboo rafts, play water games and sing antiphonal courtship songs, exchanging tokens with each other, a custom that has given Duoyi River the local name 'the river of love'. Within the same scenic area, at its film and photography base, Buyi Langshao Valley holds a cluster of buildings including Buyi-style stilt houses, folk inns and a folk-culture display hall.

What to look for

• Feihua Suiyu, where the river's flow is broken into spray by scattered rocks
• Leigong Tan waterfall, hidden around a bend in the river
• The waterwheel exhibition park, with its many large and small wheels built along the river's banks
• Buyi Langshao Valley, with its cluster of stilt houses and folk-culture hall
• The third-day-of-the-third-month Buyi festival, with bamboo-raft races and antiphonal courtship singing

Location & getting there

Getting to Duoyi River

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

• Search for 多依河 with 曲靖市 and 罗平县.