Guide · The river
Qiantang River Tidal Bore: How It Forms and Where to Watch
The Qiantang River tidal bore is a wall of water that runs upriver towards Hangzhou with the incoming tide. It is the largest in the world, and crowds gather on the 18th day of the eighth lunar month, just after the Mid-Autumn Festival, when it is traditionally strongest.
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How the bore forms
The Qiantang enters the sea through Hangzhou Bay, a classic funnel-shaped estuary. Between Luchaogang and the island of Waiyoushan the mouth is 98.5 km wide; by Ganpu it has narrowed to 19.4 km, and the tide stands about twice as high — 5.58 m on average, with a record of 8.93 m. Above Ganpu the river bed rises steeply over a huge sandbar, so the incoming sea is squeezed and slowed until its front steepens into a breaking wave.
The bore forms near Jianshan in Haining and runs more than 100 km upriver before dying away at Zhakou in Hangzhou. It comes twice a day, about twelve hours apart. Chinese sources give a wave front of up to about 3.5 m and a tidal range of 8–9 m, and the wave travels at around 11 metres a second — about 40 km/h. Local guides name its shapes as the fish-scale, single-line, returning and soaring tides.
The oldest tide table The oldest known tide table, of 1056, was drawn up for the Qiantang River — to predict this bore.
A thousand years of tide-watching
Watching the tide on the 18th day of the eighth month is a custom more than a thousand years old. An account of the Southern Song capital written in 1290 describes the navy holding reviews and manoeuvres on tide-watching day, and Song poems tell of young nongchao'er, "tide players", standing in the wave with flags that stayed dry — a practice that peaked in the 12th–13th centuries and was later banned by officials.
The tide was also feared. People built temples to tide gods along the shore and towers meant to subdue the water, among them Six Harmonies Pagoda of 970. Seawalls were raised from about AD 100; the Wuyue kingdom extended them in 910 with dikes built of bamboo cages, and a provincial seawall administration was set up in 1908. Because the river mouth shifted, the best viewing moved downstream from Hangzhou in the Ming dynasty, and Yanguan in Haining became the classic place to watch — which is why the bore is also called the Haining tide.
Where and when to watch
The bore runs every day, but it is biggest at the spring tides after the full moon, above all around the 18th day of the eighth lunar month, which falls in September or early October. Yanguan in Haining is the classic viewing town; the bore also passes the Hangzhou river front before fading out at Zhakou. Arrival times change from day to day, so check the local tide forecast for the place you choose.
Stay behind the barriers The bore moves at about 11 m a second and can strike with a force of 7–8 tonnes — enough to overturn a car. Since 1993 nearly 100 people have died, most of them visitors. On 3 October 1993, the 18th day of the eighth month, a wave swept 86 people off the bank; 19 died and 40 were missing. Keep to official viewing areas, stay off spur dikes and the river bed, and remember that the wave can surge over dikes and walls without warning.
Surfing the bore
Riding the bore has a long history, but the first modern surf on record came in 1998, a ride of 1.9 km. In October 2007 a visiting group rode one wave continuously for 17 km, in an hour and ten minutes, and in November 2013 the river hosted its first surfing competition.
Frequently asked questions
When is the best time to see the Qiantang River tidal bore?
Around the 18th day of the eighth lunar month — in September or early October — when the spring tides after the Mid-Autumn full moon make the bore highest. It also runs twice a day the rest of the year, smaller.
How high is the Qiantang bore?
Chinese sources give a wave front of up to about 3.5 m, with a tidal range of 8–9 m; it travels at about 40 km/h.
Is it dangerous to watch the tidal bore?
It can be. Waves have swept spectators off the bank, killing nearly 100 people since 1993. Watch from official viewing areas behind the barriers and stay off the spur dikes.
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