Wonder of Chinese Nature: White Water Terraces

The Baishui Plateau, also known as the White Water Terraces, is located southeast of Shangri-La County, in the foothills of the snowy Haba Mountain (Haba) at 2000 meters above sea level. This is one of the most attractive attractions of the mysterious Shangri-La with a history of 200,000 to 300,000 years.

The white terraces are 140m long and 160m wide and are one of the largest carbon-calcite terraces in China. 

Over thousands of years, the water flowing down from the nearby mountains has accumulated the calcium carbonate dissolved in it, and created limestone terraces that now look as if they are made of white marble.

Running along the side of the mountain, the spring water looks like a huge jade carved out of the green mountain.

The carbonate-calcite layers built up gradually, layer by layer, and that made them look like terraces, so the locals called them the terraces left by the fairy. 

The terraces are especially beautiful in autumn, when their banks are covered with plants with bright yellow and red leaves, and in contrast with the surrounding mountains, the plateau takes on an even more impressive appearance.

The white water terraces are considered the cradle of the Dunba religion of the Nasi people and are a holy place for the local population.

In the Nasi language, "Baishuitai" literally means "gradually grown flowers". 

According to a legend that the local population passes on from generation to generation, the founder of the Dunba religion, after returning from Tibet, began to spread his teachings here.

Currently, every eighth day of the second month of the lunar calendar (the day when the founder of the Dongba religion opened his first ceremony), local people gather around the terraces, sing, dance and perform sacrificial rituals, slaughtering chickens.