The Lakes With Names: Rhinoceros, Panda, Pearl Shoal

Pipeline stage: ③ English localization (native-level, non-literal) of spoke4-lake-stories-zh-draft.md
Content type: 🎭 Traditional culture + 🎮 Contemporary pop culture ｜ Province: Sichuan ｜ Link anchors: Legend (shattered mirror) / Jiuzhaigou hub / Why water is blue-green
“Useful” dimensions hit: human story + scenery experience
Author: Phoebe ｜ Last verified: 2026-10
Search intent: informational / cultural curiosity (mid funnel, high-share)

Jiuzhaigou’s 108 lakes aren’t just colors — many have names and stories. That, to me, is exactly what makes it more moving than “pure scenery photos”: the water has a memory. Here are three of the most representative.

Legend has it that long ago, a gravely ill Tibetan lama rode past this spot on a rhinoceros. He drank from a sacred spring in the hills and was miraculously cured. Unwilling to leave, the old man drank the water day and night, and finally rode his rhinoceros into the lake and stayed there forever — and so the lake was named Rhinoceros Lake (犀牛海). [Source: Aba Prefecture local-records network / Qunar guide]

Today Rhinoceros Lake is the second-largest in Jiuzhaigou after Long Lake; its surface is often flat as glass, mirroring the surrounding forest. On windless mornings you can’t tell sky from water. Whether the story is true hardly matters — what matters is the quiet that makes you want to “sink in and stay still.”

The name Panda Lake comes from a gentle legend: it’s said pandas once came to drink and play at this lake’s edge, and over time it took the name “Panda.” [Source: Jiuzhaigou content plan / local-gazetteer wording] With trees reflected and water crystal clear, it’s a great spot to see “underwater texture.”

(Small reminder: the Panda Lake and Arrow Bamboo Lake area also sits at the edge of Jiuzhaigou’s giant-panda habitat buffer zone — you can see the lake, but not necessarily a panda. Don’t set expectations too high; just enjoy the water color.)

I’m flagging this section with a 🎮 on purpose, because it connects “traditional Jiuzhaigou” with “contemporary culture.”

Pearl Shoal is a cream-yellow travertine shoal covered in pits; the water is caught by tiny pores and splashes into thousands of pearls, glittering like rolling beads in the sun — hence the name. What really made it famous, though, is that the opening-credits shot of the 1986 TV adaptation of Journey to the West (Xi You Ji) — the one where the monk Tang Sanzang and his companions wade across a stream leading their horse — was filmed right here. [Source: Qilu Evening News / Qunar guide / Sichuan Tourism Network]

Nuorilang Waterfall (藏语 for “majestic waterfall,” over 300 meters wide, among China’s widest travertine waterfalls) in the same valley was also a filming location for that series. [Source: Qunar guide / Jiuzhaigou scenic-area materials]

What does this mean? It means the “master and disciples crossing the river” scene from many foreign viewers’ childhoods was actually shot in Jiuzhaigou. When we talk about “how Chinese culture is seen by the world,” images that flow out naturally through classic film and TV are themselves the softest, strongest form of cultural export — more effective than any slogan.

They turn “scenery” into “a place”: at Rhinoceros Lake you no longer think only of blue, but of a tale about healing and reluctance to leave.
They create memory anchors: Pearl Shoal, through Journey to the West, became a shared memory across generations.
They prove tradition and trend are not split — Jiuzhaigou’s “traditional” landscape entered “contemporary pop culture” long ago through film and TV.

→ The shattered mirror: how 108 lakes were born (Spoke 3 · Legend, main myth)
→ Jiuzhaigou hub (overview)
→ Why is the water blue-green? (Spoke 2, the science-version “why”)
→ Jiuzhaigou’s Tibetan villages: a living culture (Spoke 5)

References

Aba Prefecture local-records network (Rhinoceros Lake legend)
Qunar guide (Rhinoceros Lake, Nuorilang Waterfall, Pearl Shoal filming location)
Qilu Evening News / Sichuan Tourism Network (Pearl Shoal × 1986 Journey to the West opening)
Jiuzhaigou scenic-area materials (Nuorilang width and Tibetan meaning)

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the story of Rhinoceros Lake in Jiuzhaigou?

Legend says a sick Tibetan lama drank from a sacred spring by the lake, was cured, and chose to ride his white rhinoceros into the water and stay forever — giving the lake its name.

Is Panda Lake named after pandas?

According to a gentle local legend, pandas once came to drink and play there; the name is folk tradition, not a claim that pandas live at the lake (it’s near a panda habitat buffer zone).

Was Journey to the West filmed at Jiuzhaigou?

Yes — Pearl Shoal and Nuorilang Waterfall in Jiuzhaigou were filming locations for the beloved 1986 Chinese TV adaptation of *Journey to the West*.

How wide is Nuorilang Waterfall?

It is over 300 meters wide and is among China’s widest travertine waterfalls.