The picturesque Chinese town of Yanjin, located along the gorge of the Tibetan Plateau, became famous for being built into the foothills of wooded cliffs. It has no tricky interchanges, no wide avenues, no main streets just because it is the narrowest city in the world.
In the depths of Tibet, in a narrow mountain gorge, an unusual city called Yanjin (Zhaotong city district, China) lurked. A remarkable fact of its existence was not the picturesque nature and the cleanest air, but the fact that it is the narrowest city in the world, in which there are no noisy avenues, no intricate interchanges since high-rise buildings are practically built into the steep slopes of sheer cliffs that limit the growth of the population point width.
Although it cannot be called a forgotten god and people at all, since it has a strategically important national railway route connecting China and Vietnam, as well as from 400 to 500 thousand km. residents. Given the almost vertical location of the city, it is not surprising that for the railway and the only highways, tunnels were laid, deep in the rock and bridges were made, since there is no familiar plain in this area available.
Reference: Yanjin is not the only city with this name in China. Despite the fact that the name is pronounced the same, the spelling and meaning differ. The settlement, which will now be discussed, is located in the county of the same name, which belongs to the urban district Zhaotong of Yunnan Province and is translated as "Salty Ford", since on the banks of the Nanxihe River, salt marshes. This Yanjin has an area of 240 square meters. km, at its narrowest point its width reaches only 30 m, and at its widest it does not exceed 300 meters.
The specificity of the relief dictates both its urban planning norms and planning, because the first floors of multi-storey buildings practically hang over the waters of a mountain river, which is absolutely unpredictable. Those who live along mountain rivers know that it looks like a modest stream, which you can easily wade in a drought. practically, without getting your feet wet, in a matter of minutes it turns into a roaring stream of water, demolishing everything on its own. way. Given this circumstance, it is not surprising that all buildings erected on the first coastline are installed on high piles. But the last row of houses is carefully strengthened to avoid collapse during landslides or rockfalls. Only those buildings that were in the center of the city are relatively safe, although in the narrowest places of the gorge there is only one row of houses that repeat the outlines of the coast.
For obvious reasons, Yanjin cannot expand in width, so every year its length becomes more and more, and multi-storey buildings - more and more. And this despite the fact that you can only cross the river in two places, and there is only one highway leading out of the city. But this, apparently, does not frighten the locals, they are in no hurry to leave, although strange housing, but their own, because it is very expensive, like every piece of land.
There is also not a lot of work in the town, part of the population works in the service and tourism sector. industry, another part - in education, while the rest serve the railway and the only highway with bridges.
City dwellers are especially hard hit during floods. Then the streams of water, rushing from the tops of the mountains to the river, demolish the meager crops, as some residents manage to earn money by growing rice or vegetables. And the river itself rises so high that it can flood not only the lower floor, while the piles not only do not save, but can also collapse.
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According to the Novate.ru editorial staff, the severe flood that occurred in 1992 not only swept away crops and houses, but also killed people. However, as in 2020, when the whole world learned about the unique city built almost on the river. The news feeds of the world media were overflowing with pictures and videos taken using drones, where it is clearly seen that many houses, despite the high piles, were flooded with water, which rose even to the nearest streets.
Despite the fact that houses located on the banks of the river are constantly washed away, the townspeople are in no hurry to leave their city, especially since after the floods, new areas with safer houses and comfortable apartments.
The Celestial Empire succeeds in building unique structures on sheer cliffs and the most inaccessible places. Every now and then dizzying objects appear that can surprise and even frighten tourists. Restaurants were no exception, one of which managed to open on the edge of a deep abyss.
A source: https://novate.ru/blogs/210921/60604/
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