During the past Mid-Autumn Festival holiday, the tidal bore in the Qiantang, also known as Haining tidal bore, has attracted many citizens and tourists to Haining city in northern Zhejiang to watch one of the three biggest tides in the world.

The Qiantang River tide is China's most famous tidal bore and the world's largest. [Photo from cztv.com]

The tidal bore usually appears from the first to the fifth of September and from the 15th to 20th in the eighth month of the lunar calendar. The bore sees the leading edge of the incoming tide forming a wave which travels up the trumpet-shaped mouth of Hangzhou Bay.

Yanguan Scenic Spot is the best place for watching the tide. Thousands of people gather to observe the power of nature. By 11:30 am on Sept 16, the expectant crowd soared into life as the bore appeared, rolling at some 40 kph down the river and reaching almost nine meters high.

People raise their phones and cameras, hoping to make a record of this splendid scenery. [Photo from zjol.com.cn]

Gao Feng, deputy director of the management committee of Yanguan Scenic Spot, said this year's Qiantang tide was about half an hour earlier than previous years and because of the high water level in Yanguan, "yi xian chao", literally 'a ribbon of tide' in Chinese, which would bring about more enjoyment.

As city of tidal bore, Haining aims to raise tides of culture, economy, sports and music as well, to increase the influence of the annual tidal-bore viewing festival and offer a special tourism feast with the main line of tidal-bore watching.

This year, not only network broadcast activities are adopted to increase online focus, but many other derivative activities are also presented successively to promote the tide culture, including the sculpture exhibition, Haining Music Festival, TV shows and an international seminar on tidal bore.

What is worth mentioning is that this year's Tidal-Bore Viewing Festival will be expanded to the whole city in Haining. Special promotions of China Leather Market, Outlets Square and folk streets, camping along Qiantang River and folk products displays in Huangwan town make up the full blossom of tourism in Haining.