Tibetan Character Stone

Tibetan Character Stone

Tibetan Character Stone

Guizhou has a geological wonder, known as the "Tibetan Character Stone," which remains relatively unknown to this day.

In Langmazhai, Pingtang County, Guizhou Province, a massive boulder weighing over a hundred tons fell from the mountaintop and split into two halves. Strangely enough, five horizontally arranged large characters — "中国0" (China 0) — can be clearly seen on the fractured surface of the stone.

Speaking of the discovery of the "Tibetan Character Stone," it was in June 2002 when the Duyun International Photography Expo recommended the scenic area as a photography spot. The then-village party secretary, Wang Guofu, while cleaning up the site, accidentally noticed two large characters — "产" (produce) and "党" (party) — on a huge rock. After he moved away the straw that had long been piled up beside the rock, he was pleasantly surprised to find that the stone wall faintly displayed what resembled five horizontally arranged large characters: "中国0." Upon closer inspection, those characters were uniform and square-shaped, each about one foot in size, with strokes protruding from the stone surface like a relief carving. The news quickly spread from person to person, and the more it spread, the more mysterious it became. Visitors who came to explore gave it various names such as "Heavenly Script," "Tibetan Character Stone," "Sun Stone," and "Divine Stone," making the "Tibetan Character Stone" the foremost of the "Seven Wonders" in the local Zhangbu River Valley Scenic Area.

There are various theories about how these five characters were formed, some of which have been shrouded in mystery.

After investigation and appraisal by scientists, it was found that the "中国0" on the "Tibetan Character Stone" is mostly composed of fossilized organisms, including sponges, crinoid stems, and brachiopods. Within the traces forming the characters, many oval and columnar structures can be clearly observed. It was the random accumulation of these fossils that, coincidentally, aligned to form five orderly large characters on the fractured cross-section created by the rock joint. These five characters appeared naturally, showing no signs of artificial carving, modeling, or pasting. Their formation occurred when, during sedimentation, biological remains accumulated in layers, and through metasomatic processes, calcium carbonate replaced the original components of the biological remains, forming fossils. Due to the difference in structure compared to the original rock, when the fossil-bearing rocks fell to the ground and split along the joint plane, these fossil formations stood out. Moreover, they resist weathering better than the surrounding bedrock, making them even more prominent. The location where the "Tibetan Character Stone" fell happened to be beneath a semi-cave formed by the steep cliff on the left bank of the river, which provided some protection for these characters.

Therefore, this geological wonder can also be considered an artistic masterpiece, and its rarity is fully worthy of being listed among the world’s geological wonders.