Qibailong Scenic Area

Qibailong Scenic Area

Qibailong Scenic Area is a national AAAA-level tourist attraction.

Qibailong Scenic Area

The Dahuang Hongshui River – Qibailong Scenic Area is situated in the middle reaches of the Hongshui River within the Pearl River Basin, in Dahuang Yao Autonomous County, Guangxi. It is 138 kilometers from Nanning and forms a pivotal destination along the “Nanning – Dahuang – Bama – Baise” tourism route.

The scenic area is hailed as the “New Pearl of Western Guangxi’s Scenery.” It is the most typical region in the world for the development of karst peak clusters and deep depressions, boasting World Natural Heritage-level significance. Covering an area of over 1,300 square kilometers, it integrates rare karst landforms at home and abroad with large-scale modern hydropower engineering landscapes and ethnic culture. Experts have commented that Qibailong is a precious gift from nature to humanity, possessing extremely high scientific and aesthetic value. The area serves not only as a base for scientific research and science education but also as an ideal destination for scientific expeditions, rock climbing, artistic sketching, and ethnic cultural tourism.

In April 1996, it was designated as a provincial-level scenic area. In July of the same year, it won the First National Scenic Area Exhibition Award for its eight distinctive features: spectacular mountains, beautiful waters, expansive lakes, mysterious caves, perilous gorges, serene depressions, majestic dams, and the unique culture of the Yao and Zhuang peoples. Following inspections by the People's Government of the Autonomous Region and the Ministry of Construction of China, the area was submitted to the State Council for designation as a National Key Scenic Area. In March 2000, it participated in the First National Tourism Commodities and Handicrafts Expo and received an Excellence Award.

The scenic area is vast in scale and boasts a diverse range of tourism resources. Based on landscape composition and integrated functions, it is divided into the Qibailong Scenic Area, the Dahuang–Guhe Scenic Area, the Yantan Lake Scenic Area (including the Hongshui River Three Gorges), and the Hongshui River Strange Beaches and Mysterious Gorges Scenic Area.

Canadian Professor D. Ford described the depressions of Qibailong as “the steepest and deepest large depressions in the world,” and the Ganfang Dong is truly the king of Qibailong’s deep depressions. This dong is over 600 meters deep, branching into eight trough-like depressions extending 5 kilometers northward, known as the “Ten-Mile Secluded Gorge.” Twenty-seven Yao households live at the bottom of the dong, which remains free from floods or droughts year-round. Viewed from the 800-meter-high elevation along the road, it truly resembles a paradise on earth. Those who descend to the bottom by following the more than 1,400 stone steps winding through a maze of rocks and bushes are nothing short of “visitors from the heavens.”