Where two rivers turn gold in a realm of wonder
Shifting waters meet at the striking confluence in Gansu, revealing ancient stories, quiet beauty, and fleeting moments of awe, Deng Zhangyu and Ma Jingna report.
In Lanzhou, a city divided by the Yellow River, a 15-minute drift on a sheepskin raft has become known among locals as "the brave one's game". In fact, watching adventurers bob along the waves has itself become a lively pastime — spectators gather along the riverbanks, cheering, laughing and snapping photos as riders cling to their rafts, caught between excitement and fear.
As visitors drift downstream, Lanzhou's riverside scenery unfolds like a living scroll. Tea drinkers wave from wooden verandas and anglers nod from the shore. When a stray wave leaps onto the raft, riders may even catch a faint taste of the Yellow River's mineral-rich silt — an unexpected but undeniably authentic souvenir.
And so the journey along China's mother river concludes not just with awe-inspiring landscapes but with a blend of adventure, serenity and memory. Part spectacle, part challenge, part poetry — wholly unforgettable.
