Fengshan UNESCO Global Geopark

Fengshan UNESCO Global Geopark

Fengshan UNESCO Global Geopark is a national AAAA-level tourist attraction.

Fengshan UNESCO Global Geopark is located in Fengshan County, Hechi City, Guangxi, covering a total area of 50 square kilometers. It consists of the Sanmenhai Karst Windows Scenic Area, Jiangzhou Immortal Bridge Scenic Area, Mandarin Duck Spring Scenic Area, Leye-Fengshan UNESCO Global Geopark Cave Museum, Balay Monkey Mountain Scenic Area, and Meng'e Yao Village Scenic Area. The park is characterized by karst geology, featuring numerous karst geological heritage landscapes such as karst peak clusters, peak forests, horizontal caves, underground rivers, karst windows, shafts, sinkholes, natural bridges, marginal poljes, and solution depressions. It is a national geopark in China rich in karst geological resources, widely distributed, and uniquely diverse in types. It is also a UNESCO Global Geopark with a large number of and high density of massive cave chambers in the world.

As a national geopark, Fengshan has the densest distribution of large caves in China, boasting unique geological heritage landscapes such as the world’s largest cluster of stalagmites, the world’s largest cluster of karst windows, the world’s highest underground karst canyon, China’s second-largest natural bridge in span, and the age-old mystery of the Mandarin Duck Springs. At the same time, as a multi-ethnic county, the Blue-Shirted Zhuang, Indigo Yao, and Highland Han people form a distinctive “Blue” cultural zone. As a revolutionary base area, Fengshan is where the history of Comrade Deng Xiaoping’s “Baise Storm, Two Rivers’ Red Flags” was written.

According to reports, only geological heritage sites of special scientific significance, rarity, aesthetic value, and educational function can be selected as “UNESCO Global Geoparks.” On October 3, 2010, at the new member evaluation meeting of UNESCO Global Geoparks held in Greece, China's Fengshan Geopark and the Leye Dashiwei Sinkhole Cluster Geopark were jointly and successfully inducted as UNESCO Global Geoparks, becoming the first UNESCO Global Geopark tourist destination in Guangxi.