Baiheliang, Protected cultural heritage site in Fuling, China

Baiheliang is a natural stone ridge in the Yangtze River, about 1,600 metres long and 10 to 25 metres wide, lying parallel to the current off the south bank. Its middle section, roughly 220 metres long, carries over 170 inscriptions and images, including 18 fish carvings. Since 2009 the ridge has been enclosed in a protective shell filled with filtered river water, reached by a 91-metre escalator and viewed through 23 round glass windows.

The earliest surviving inscription dates to 971, during the Northern Song, though a Tang text of 764 is recorded but no longer legible. Carvings continued until 1963, with over half from the Song period. In 2003 work began on the underwater protection project, and the museum opened in 2009.

The ridge's name comes from a legend that a Daoist priest, helped by a fisherman, flew away on a white crane. Since the Tang dynasty, a saying held that when the river receded and the stone fish appeared, the year would be plentiful. Each winter and spring, locals traditionally took boats out to the exposed rock to view the carvings.

The site is reached through a secure underwater tunnel connected to a museum, so visitors should be comfortable with enclosed water passages. Year-round access is possible, though cool temperatures near the tunnel and water currents can sometimes affect visiting conditions.

The stone inscriptions represent the world's longest continuous water-level record, spanning a millennium of unbroken observation. Visitors encounter a hidden archive that shows how communities monitored river behavior across an extraordinarily long timeframe.