Chongqing Yunyang Longgang Geological Park

　　    Introduction     Located about 80 kilometers from Yunyang County in Qingshui, it is the world's largest karst vertical shaft. It features a rare ring-shaped sinkhole that resembles a water vat. The mouth of the Longgang is oval, and beneath it extends a roughly two-zhang-long (about 6.6 meters) natural flat stone slab reaching into the pit, about a foot wide, allowing visitors to lie prone and peer into the unusual sights within. The upper part of the pit walls is covered with vines and dotted with wildflowers, while the lower section features sheer cliffs in bluish-gray rock. When a stone is thrown into the pit, it takes dozens of seconds for the echo to return. Small animals seem to scurry about inside the pit, and birds fly back and forth—known as flying tigers, their wings are sharp as blades. Legend has it that someone once lowered themselves halfway down the pit using a thick hemp rope, but was attacked by a flying tiger, causing the rope to snap and the person to fall to their death. On the southern rim of the pit stands a huge boulder about five meters tall, with a nearly two-meter-long stone slab lying horizontally across its top, one end tilted slightly into the pit, hook-like, resembling an eagle’s beak—hence called “Eagle Beak Rock.”
　　 

　　   Chongqing Yunyang County