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Of the many interesting sights in Hangzhou, there is besides West Lake the spectacular tide at the mouth of Qiantang River. The tides here are what is called a tidal bore which makes a thrilling sight as it seems to be impelled by such a furious elemental force that it threatens to overwhelm and overpower everything in its way, striking awe in the beholder even as the sky and the sun are being swallowed up. It is said that in the world today only the tidal bore at the mouth of the mighty Amazon in Brazil can be a rival to that at the mouth of Qiantang.

The tidal bore of Qiantang has since ancient times been considered a spectacular sight. As early as the fourth century B. C., the ancient philosopher of China Zhuangzi had written about it like this: “The waters in the Zhe or Crooked River will roll on raising waves high as mountains and towers, creating a thunderous roar and gathering up a force that threatens to engulf the sun and the sky”. In the Eastern Han Dynasty(25—220), Wang Chong the thinker, in his Essays of Criticism or Lun'Heng in Chinese, recorded his observations of the tidal bore of Qiantang River like this: “The tide flows and ebbs with the wax and wane of the moon”. In ancient China, it was a common practice among men of letters not only to read widely but also to travel extensively. In the course of their travels, many of them had visited lots of famous mountains and magnificent rivers, but they had seen few sights that had impressed them as deeply as the tidal bore of Qiantang. Wielding their inspired pens, some of them had described the spectacular sight of the tidal bore. Poet Li Kuo of the Tang Dynasty(618—907)had these lines:

The bright mid-autumn moon casts its light on a thousand miles of land,

The thunderous bore at midnight loud as a million marching men.