The legend of the pristine lakes is that a boy named Dage was deeply in love with a beautiful goddess. One day Dage gave her a gift, a mirror made out of wind. The mirror, however, broke by the goddess’s hands and the pieces scattered into 114 crystal clear lakes among the mountains and forest.

The park is identified by three major river valleys (Zechawa, Shuzeng, and Rize) that flow together to form the “Y” shape which over 2 million visitors explore each year. When Jiuzhaigou first opened to the public in the early 1980s, about 5,000 people visited annually. This significant increase is due to a series of designations starting in the 1990s when the park caught the world’s green eye. It was named a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1992, a World Biosphere Reserve in 1997, and is certified as sustainable by Green Globe 21. Jiuzhaigou is China’s only park to have all three designations, which is one of the reasons that this park serves as a model for China in management, research, and education.

As tourism has increased, the management of the park has developed to fit the growing needs. The masses of people have also adapted the park policy on sleeping in the valley. Early on in the park’s history the Tibetan villages had built hotel rooms for visitors to stay and experience the local eating and homes. Management soon learned that the business was making a large footprint on the health and ecology of the water systems. The Tibetans, who have their houses, families and history in Jiuzhaigou, remain and are a great source of cultural interest and positive land ethic.