Jiǔcài Píng

　　A national geological park. Located in Dawan Town, Zhongshan District, Liupanshui City, Guizhou Province. Both the Shuibì and Shuǐdà highways lead to Dawan, which is 90 kilometers from the city center. It features typical early Cenozoic paleokarst geological relics on the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau and is the highest peak of the Wumeng Mountain Range situated on the eastern slope of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, with an elevation of 2,906 meters. It is one of the best-preserved karst landform landscapes dominated by karst geology in the Liupanshui area.

　　　　Fossils of marine reptiles from the Middle Triassic strata, dating back over 260 million years, represent the earliest known paleotriassic fossil site discovered in the world to date and mark another major breakthrough in paleontology. The fossils mainly consist of ichthyosaurs, as well as Guizhou dragons, thalattosaurs, mixosaurs, along with lepidotids, coelacanths, and saurichthyids. They hold significant importance for studying the evolution, paleoecology, and marine environments of marine reptiles during the Triassic period. This area serves both as a geological heritage reserve and an ecological conservation zone.

　　　　The climate of Jiǔcài Píng is classified as subtropical alpine, characterized by distinct zonal climatic variations—changing not only by season but also within a single day. There are no year-round flowing water systems on the mountain, only seasonal streams. Currently, there are two year-round water sources: one is magma drip water inside a cave at the mountaintop, and the other is seepage from a stream near the parking lot, both with relatively low flow rates. The vertical zonation of Jiǔcài Píng is quite distinct: between 2,500–2,600 meters in elevation, there are expanses of tall trees; between 2,600–2,800 meters, mixed forests of trees and shrubs dominate; and above 2,800 meters, large areas are covered with dense shrubbery.

　　　　Jiǔcài Píng is renowned for its geological wonders, complemented by various natural landscapes. The karst landform marvels include uniquely shaped stone forests—some resembling mountain gates, others like swords. There is also a “Hundred Beasts Garden” where rocks take the shapes of cats, tigers, lions, and more. The vegetation is abundant, featuring nationally protected plants such as Xīlán camellias and alpine banyans, vast stands of cliff poplars, hillsides blanketed with Wumeng azaleas, clumps of arrow bamboo, wild leeks soft as felt, high-altitude caves, sinkholes, fossils, all of which hold high ornamental and scientific research value.