In the towering mountains on the southern bank of Fengjie County, the world's longest underground river, the world's longest sinkhole, and the world's largest sinkhole were discovered. For decades after their discovery, countless geology enthusiasts and explorers have been captivated by them. This scenic area has since developed into a national AAAA-level tourist attraction and is currently applying for UNESCO World Natural Heritage status. The Nine Heavens Dragon and Phoenix is another leisure and wellness-oriented tourism brand in Fengjie County, which includes the Jiupan River Scenic Area, Tiankeng Difeng Scenic Area, Longqiaohe Scenic Area, and Jinfengshan Scenic Area, abbreviated as the "Nine Heavens Dragon and Phoenix."
Driving from the county town toward the Tiankeng Difeng Scenic Area, it takes about 20 minutes to reach a winding canyon with well-preserved pristine ecology—this is the Jiupan River, known as the "Wild Three Gorges." The canyon is shrouded in mist, with lush green mountains lining both sides, and the river meandering gracefully through the valley. With nine bends and eighteen pools, it resembles a jade ribbon coiled around the mountains.
Legend has it that in ancient times, when heaven and earth were in chaos, Pangu was born, separating the sky and the earth—yang became the heavens, and yin became the land. At that time, nine celestial dragons were born, each guarding one of China’s nine regions. Among them, the Kui Dragon guarded Kui Gate, also known as Kuizhou. During the era of Yu the Great, the Yangtze River suffered from relentless flooding. The Kui Dragon was ordered by heaven to assist Yu in taming the floods. Meanwhile, nine demonic snakes from the underworld had taken residence in the rugged mountains not far from the Yangtze. These demonic snakes vied with the Kui Dragon for territory and frequently opposed him. Whenever the Kui Dragon cleared the river channels, the snakes used magic to block them again. After discovering this, the Kui Dragon engaged in a fierce battle with the snakes. Though vastly more powerful than the nine snakes, the Kui Dragon could not withstand their combined strength. The snakes coiled together, preparing for a final, desperate strike. Had the Kui Dragon fallen, the gate he guarded—Kui Gate—would have collapsed, unleashing a torrent of the Yangtze River and causing catastrophic flooding downstream.
At the critical moment, Guanyin Bodhisattva appeared, immobilized the nine snakes with a spell, and sprinkled nine drops of jade dew for them to consume. The snakes finally calmed down. The nine intertwined snakes fell to the earth and became the mountain ranges on both sides of the Jiupan River, while the places touched by the jade dew formed the Jiupan River we see today. Today, strolling along the Jiupan River, you’ll encounter breathtaking scenery at every turn—"Lotus Pool," "Lonely Cliff," "Scroll Mountain," "Tortoise Peak," "Xiangzi Cliff," and "Deer Spring"—each spot brimming with local legends and fascinating stories. Since the river water originates from underground sources and is entirely unpolluted, coupled with the stunning surrounding landscape, summer rafting here is hailed as the "No. 1 Poetic Rafting Experience in China."
Entering the Nine Heavens Dragon and Phoenix Scenic Area via the Jiupan River, you’ll drive along winding mountain roads. Through the car windows, you can admire the overlapping peaks, misty vistas, and endless fairy-like scenery. Soon, you’ll arrive at the "Dry Kuimen." The Dry Kuimen is an unmissable paradise within the Nine Heavens Dragon and Phoenix Scenic Area, consisting of two vertical cliffs rising 600 meters high, resembling a grand gate. Because Fengjie is home to the world-famous Kuimen of the Three Gorges, locals call this the "Dry Kuimen." The local name for this area is "Yizi Tang" (Chair Trough). Legend says that during the Heavenly God Appointment Ceremony by Jiang Ziya, this was the seat of a minor deity named Zhang Ziran, also known as "Youren." After the ceremony, this deity ascended to heaven and became the Jade Emperor, leaving his earthly seat behind—which is now Yizi Tang, or the Dry Kuimen. According to locals, many visitors come here during Chinese New Year to pray at the "Divine Chair" for a prosperous new year, and it’s said to be especially efficacious.
After exiting the Dry Kuimen, you can also overlook it from a viewing platform along the scenic highway. The valley below is veiled in mist, with rustic farmhouses appearing and disappearing among fields of marigolds. Two elderly locals sit by their courtyard, happily taking photos with visitors.
About half an hour later, you’ll reach the core of the Nine Heavens Dragon and Phoenix—the Tiankeng Difeng Scenic Area. The Difeng (sinkhole fissure) stretches 37 kilometers, making it the longest in the world. One section, Tianjing Gorge, has a valley floor only 0.5 to 15 meters wide, with cliff depths reaching up to 250 meters, creating a rare "line sky" canyon wonder. Formed 350 million years ago during the Hercynian movement due to vertical fracturing of surface rock layers, it wasn’t discovered until the mid-1980s. It is now a world-renowned natural marvel.
Both the Tiankeng and Difeng are part of a national geological park. Xiaozhai Tiankeng is the world’s largest sinkhole, with a ground elevation of 1331 meters, a depth of 666.2 meters, a pit mouth diameter of 622 meters, and a pit bottom diameter of 522 meters. The pit walls are steep, with a path on the northeastern side leading down to the bottom. There are two terraces on the pit walls: the first at 300 meters deep, 2–10 meters wide, where two abandoned houses once stood; and the second at 400 meters deep, sloped and overgrown with grass and wildflowers, with several hanging springs flowing down. Below the pit lies an underground river, making Xiaozhai Tiankeng a "skylight" of the river. It shares the same karst system with Tianjing Gorge Difeng—the underground river from the pit bottom is replenished by the Difeng, then flows out through Maze Gorge to become the source of the Jiupan River. The underground river stretch from the Tiankeng to the Maze Gorge outlet is about 4 kilometers long.
Every summer, the Tiankeng Difeng becomes a popular retreat for leisure, wellness, and cooling off. Visitors often collect "five-colored gemstones" from the bottom of the Tiankeng and Difeng. Legend says a visitor once sold a stone they found there for tens of millions. This is tied to the origin story of the Tiankeng and Difeng.
Since the beginning, when Nüwa created humankind, people lived in happiness. But one day, a piece of the heavens collapsed, and water from the Heavenly River poured down, drowning countless lives and submerging the world under floodwaters.
Witnessing her children suffering, Nüwa was moved to compassion and vowed to mend the heavens. She left her cave, climbed countless mountains, crossed many rivers, and sought a solution. After enduring great hardships, she finally found the five-colored gemstones needed to repair the heavens atop Kunlun Mountain.
When she transported the gemstones to the Three Gorges of the Yangtze, she piled them on the highest peak, lit a great fire, and refined them for 81 days until they melted into lava. The mountain glowed like a blazing fire, turning completely red. This mountain was later called "Chijia Mountain," also known as "Flame Mountain."
Using the height of the mountain, Nüwa lifted the molten lava with her hands to patch the hole in the sky. After repeating this tirelessly, she finally sealed the breach. As the earthly floods ceased, people rebuilt their homes and returned to joyful lives.
Relieved, Nüwa looked down at the leftover lava and thought to use it for something else. Suddenly, a fierce wind blew up from the valley, shaking trees and mountains. The lava she held was swept away by a dark cloud. In panic, Nüwa called out "Kui Dragon!" The dragon appeared, and she mounted its back. Together, they rode the clouds in pursuit of the glowing lava. The wind carried the lava across the land. What landed in Wushan became the Twelve Peaks of Wushan. Returning to present-day Xinglong, Nüwa, in a stroke of brilliance, threw a strand of her hair at the wind, breaking the cloud and scattering the remaining lava into a colorful boulder that crashed into the earth, forming a massive crater—that is the Tiankeng. The shattered fragments of the boulder became the colorful stones scattered at the bottom. And where her hair fell, it formed a surface fissure—the present-day Difeng.
Today’s Tiankeng Difeng resembles a vibrant scroll of art, encompassing stone forests, caves, sinkholes, vertical shafts, streams, primeval forests, and alpine meadows—an otherworldly paradise.
A few minutes from the Tiankeng parking lot, you’ll arrive at a small town—Xinglong Town, a national-level tourism resort city currently under development in Fengjie County. Nestled in a high-mountain basin at over 1300 meters above sea level, the air is crisp, with medical-grade negative ion levels. Surrounding Tujia villages still preserve folk customs such as the "Daughter’s Festival" and the "Hand-Waving Dance." In summer, wellness tourists flock here, making the town lively and bustling.
Xinglong Town lies beneath Shiruguan Pass, an ancient mountain gateway from Jingchu to Sichuan, historically a hub for merchants and caravans. Thus, Xinglong Town has always been a gathering place for travelers. On Shiruguan, there’s also a boundary marker erected by Zhuge Liang during his border inspection—one side inscribed "Shu," the other "Wu." The tale of "Zhuge Liang’s Witty Exchange with the Six Ya Magistrate" also took place here.
After enjoying local cuisine in Xinglong Town, you can drive to the Longqiaohe Scenic Area via a connecting road toward Hubei’s Jianshi direction, arriving in about 15 minutes along an all-asphalt road. The Longqiaohe Scenic Area features karst landforms, with caves, peak forests, springs, and mountain pastures as its highlights, along with waterfalls and abundant underground water resources.
At the bottom of a steep, narrow valley, a small, winding river flows quietly, its waters crystal clear with fish and shrimp swimming like sprites. As the river passes beneath a stone bridge like a dancing dragon, the thin mist adds to the enchantment. This bridge is called the "Tiansheng Qiao" (Natural Bridge), or Dragon Bridge, and the river is the Longqiaohe. After meandering through nine bends and eighteen turns, the river quietly flows beneath the Natural Bridge and disappears into the mysterious Yunlong Cave, forming the world’s largest underground river system. The scenic area combines the spectacular, majestic, perilous, elegant, and serene—making it a perfect place to connect with nature.
The "Dragon Bridge" stands over 60 meters high. Originally a wall-like stone peak, it was split by water to form a natural arch, also called a Tiansheng Qiao. A road and the Yunlong Temple were built atop it, presenting a majestic sight. From afar, the bridge resembles an inverted spindle, with the arch as the eye of the spindle and the river flowing through like silver threads of Tujia brocade. On the massive stone walls, waterfalls cascade—originating from a hoofprint-sized spring, hence named "Ox-Hoof Flying Spring."
Legend says that on the night before the seventh day of the seventh lunar month, the Queen Mother was overseeing her daughters weaving brocaded clouds. Feeling the heat, she called upon her niece, the "Iron Fan Princess," to fan everyone. The Bull Demon King, long infatuated with the Iron Fan Princess, sneaked in to peek at the weaving. Mesmerized by her dance, he lost his footing and fell heavily onto the Queen Mother’s palace floor, leaving a giant footprint. The palace maidens were terrified, and the Queen Mother, furious, threw her spindle to the ground, ready to punish him—but seeing his dazed, drooling state, she couldn’t bring herself to punish him harshly. Instead, she ordered him to "retrieve his lustful drool and thread the spindle." The Longqiaohe is the silver thread, the Dragon Bridge the spindle’s magical hole, and the fifty-li Niuxi Underground River.
The Longqiaohe stretches 3.3 kilometers, offering a scenic legend at every step. Traveling upstream, you can admire sights like the "Wild Elephant Drinking," "Divine Horse on Rock," "Ten-Thousand-Year Ink Turtle," and "Daughter-in-Law Quarreling with Mother-in-Law Spring."
Visiting Jinfengshan in the Nine Heavens Dragon and Phoenix Scenic Area is usually planned for the second day, as morning fog often obscures the view—only when the sun rises does Jinfengshan truly shine. About 100 kilometers from Fengjie County and 30 kilometers from Xinglong Town, Jinfengshan is named for its resemblance to a golden phoenix and is the highest point of the Tiankeng Difeng Scenic Area. Its unique shape, formed by several connected small peaks resembling breasts, has earned it the playful nickname "Cluster of Breasts Peaks."
Wind, sand, rain, snow, springs, and streams have meticulously carved the rock layers over millennia with nature’s patience and power, giving rise to the astonishing karst landscape and the beautiful "Cluster of Breasts Peaks" in Xinglong Town, Fengjie County. The unusually round and full mountain forms uniquely preserve the early developmental stages of Earth’s youth. Stretching over 30 kilometers with more than 1,000 similar peaks, they’re called the "Cluster of Breasts in Competition." Shrouded in sea of clouds, the undulating peaks are softly wrapped in mist, lush and beautiful.
The Cluster of Breasts Peaks has distinct seasonal colors. In spring, mountain flowers bloom and the peaks are tender green, with butterflies dancing as life awakens through the lens—vibrant yet shyly hopeful. In summer, sea of clouds drift and light plays tricks, the peaks having shed their youthful look, growing richer in green as everything flourishes, exuding delicate beauty without arrogance. In autumn, the deep greens turn into mature gold, casting a noble glow that tinges the water and sky. In winter, snow blankets the high peaks, stripping them of color as they modestly display their unadorned beauty.
Among the Cluster of Breasts Peaks is one called Jinfengshan. Legend says that when the Queen Mother’s seven daughters ventured to Earth to admire rivers and human life, the Fifth Princess, Qing’er, was so captivated by the scenery here that she missed her return date and stayed, eventually transforming into Jinfengshan to protect travelers.
Photography enthusiasts should aim to be atop Jinfengshan before dawn, when the earth is still bathed in blue tones. Round mountain peaks emerge from the sea of clouds, mist flowing like water between ridges and valleys, the peaks dancing like sprites. As dawn breaks, the sea of clouds below turns whiter, the distant sky glowing faint gold, illuminating the clouds. The white houses and ponds among the peaks radiate vitality in the morning sun. The Jinfeng Cloud Sea captured through your lens will leave you enchanted, reluctant to leave.