Every year, during the rainy season, a scenic road winding through China’s Poyang Lake like a mythical dragon becomes flooded, offering a unique driving and visual experience.

Yongwu Road is the only stretch of road connecting Wucheng, one of the oldest townships in China, to neighboring townships and counties. Part of the X219 county road, this 5.05 km piece of infrastructure was built straight through Poyang Lake, China’s largest freshwater lake, making it one of the most famous tourist attractions of Jiangxi Province. But Yongwu is most popular with tourists at the onset of the rainy season, during Spring when the water level starts rising. When the level of the surrounding lake reaches about 18.6 meters, water submerges segments of the road, turning Yongwu Road into “China’s most beautiful road under the water.”

Photo: China Daily/VCG

Interestingly, driving on this superficially flooded road is a time-limited opportunity, as local authorities prefer to close traffic when the water level reaches the flood warning line (19 meters), for safety purposes. Yongwu Road remains closed until the water level recedes to normal levels, which usually occurs toward the end of summer. Last year, the road was reopened on August 8th, with more than 8,000 vehicles lined up to traverse it, causing a traffic jam.

 

Yongwu Road was opened to traffic in 2013, and despite the known risks of driving on wet and flooded asphalt, we have found no evidence of serious accidents having occurred on it since then. Obviously, the guard rails on each side of the road are meant to prevent cars from plunging into the deep lake, but they can only do so much if drivers don’t adapt their driving speed to road conditions.

 

Earlier this year, we wrote about the Shiziguan Floating Bridge, another famous scenic route traversing a beautiful body of water in China, but one where accidents have happened in the past.