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Tourists wait to see the Qiantang River tide in Haiyan, Jiaxing, on Sept 21. [Photo/WeChat account: hainingfabu]

Yanguan town in Haining county, Jiaxing, East China's Zhejiang province, would attract tens of thousands of tourists with spectacular Qiantang River tide each year around Mid-Autumn Festival.

This year, the COVID-19 prevention measures limit the tourist number at Tidal Bore Watching Park to 14,000 per day.

According to locals, Aug 11, the fourth day of the seventh lunar month, is the Tidal Day, the beginning of the best viewing period for the Qiantang River tides.

The best time to watch the natural wonder usually falls on the eighth day of the eighth month in the Chinese lunar calendar.

At a quarter past 14:00, a white line approaches from afar accompanied by a loud roar. When it comes near, the tide turns into a one-meter-high wall of water, greatly impressing all who see it.

The tide can climb to more than three meters from the rising water surface at a speed of 5 to 7 meters a second. It means an eight-meter dispersion from the normal water level when there's no tide.

The tidal bore in the Qiantang, also known as the Haining tidal bore, which sees large waves created by the gravitational pull of the moon and the sun and the centrifugal force produced by the rotation of the earth, and by the peculiar 'trumpet-shaped' mouth of Hangzhou Bay, is believed to be one of the three biggest tides in the world and has been consistently popular throughout the generations.

There are four popular ways to enjoy the Qiantang River tides in Haining – watching the crossing tide from Dingqiao Bridge, watching the line-shaped tide from Tidal Bore Watching Park, watching the "turn back" tide from Laoyancang, or simply listening to the tide at night.