The teapot mouth
The cleft that swallows the river.
Leruswing — CC BY-SA 3.0 · 鲍向阳 — CC BY-SA 3.0 · N509FZ — CC BY-SA 4.0 · lienyuan lee — CC BY 3.0 · Nyx Ning — CC BY-SA 3.0 · 鲍向阳 — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Taken by Fanghong — CC BY 2.5 · Nyx Ning — CC BY-SA 3.0
The largest waterfall on the Yellow River, the second largest in China after Huangguoshu and the world's largest yellow waterfall, on the border between Shanxi and Shaanxi provinces where the middle Yellow River cuts a deep canyon through the mountains. As the river nears the falls, the mountains suddenly squeeze it to some twenty or thirty metres, and its muddy water speeds up and plunges with a great roar into a narrow rock cleft as if poured from the mouth of a giant teapot, hence the name Hukou, «teapot mouth». It is usually thirty metres wide, widening to fifty in the flood season, and throws up a thick spray in which rainbows form when the sun shines. Visitors stand on flat rocks at the edge of the cleft, very close to the rushing water, so mind the wet rock and keep to the railings. Tickets on the Shanxi side cost CNY 100, half price for students, the area bus CNY 20 return, with entry from 7.30 am until 5.30 pm, per visitor guides.
The cleft that swallows the river.
In the spray.
At the water's edge.
Ji County, on the Yellow River at the Shanxi-Shaanxi border, west of Linfen
You can visit from the Shanxi side in Ji County or the Shaanxi side in Yichuan County, each with its own ticket; the Shanxi side is closer to Linfen, and both give close views of the falls.
Choices are few at the falls, so bring food and look in Linfen city for restaurants run by Hui Muslims under the halal sign.