China's highest waterfall is actually fed by a pipe

If you thought that it was impossible to believe almost anything China does or says, well, this will only strengthen your opinion.

Deep in the mountains of Henan Province in northeastern China is Yuntai Mountain, a UNESCO Geo Park and one of China's premier natural tourist areas. You may remember it from news reports back in 2015 about a newly-installed glass walkway that cracked just two weeks after opening and had to be closed down. 

One of the major attractions within Yuntai Park is Yuntai Falls, at 314m the highest uninterrupted waterfall in China. Well, it turns out that it is actually fed by a hidden water pipe, high on the mountain, and so is not a natural feature at all. An intrepid hiker discovered the pipe at the source of the waterfall and posted video of his findings on Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok. Since then, it has attracted some 10 million views on Douyin and 14 million on Weibo.

The waterfall itself (yup, I know!) issued an apology, saying it was only trying to help give people a good show, and a surprising number of people were sympathetic (albeit a minority). Only in China, you say.

It's not the first time this kind of thing has happened. Hangguoshu Waterfall in the southwestern province of Guizhou was shown to be benefitting from a water diversion project from a nearby dam in 2006.

You can't help but think that China is somehow missing the point here.