China Danxia

China Danxia
Photo by Stanislaw Warwas.

China Danxia comprises landscapes dominated by eroded red sandstone landforms.

The nine components hold examples varying from most to least eroded, where natural pillars, cliffs, and ravines have been shaped by weathering, erosion and tectonic uplift. The Danxia landform is named after Mount Danxia, one of the most famous examples of this landform.

Community Perspective: Both reviewers so far have covered the Danxiashan component, which is accessible via Guangzhou and where the main attraction seems to be the large red phallus stone.

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Nan

Germany - 28-Oct-18 -

China Danxia by Nan

Trying to cover the sites of the newly defined Guangzhou hotspot, I visited Danxiashan on my first full day in China. These red rocks dot the landscape to the North of Shaoguan. The site itself is quite popular with Chinese tourists. When it comes to foreigners this is a bit off the beaten path, but I ran into a group of exchange students.

Personally, I had expected more of a canyon or mountain range. But these are more individual rocks rising high above the river with interesting reddish shapes and forms. Chinese seem to take extra pleasure in interpreting these. Normally, I have a hard time seeing what is meant. For the most reknown rock formation (image) this wasn't hard at all.

Getting There

Similar to Frederik I went via bullet train from Guangzhou to Shaoguan. Following his instructions I also managed to catch the local bus to the bus terminal (2 RMB). At the bus terminal, though, my luck ran out as I did not manage to find the busses to Danxia.

Luckily several cab drivers recognized me as a tourist and figured there could only be one reason why I was in Shaoguan. There are shared cab services between Shaoguan and Danxiashan. In the end I settled for that option (100 RMB, 45min from bus terminal). I also used the shared cab to get back to Shaoguan as they were just lingering outside the main parking lot of Danxiashan and catching the proper bus would have required me to first go downt to the park entrance and seemed not worth the hassle. At 12€ I felt this was a bargain.

For my visit I grossly underestimated the time needed to get to the site. I had a 6h time window between arriving and departing from Shaoguan Station, but with transfers and some buffer I only had 2h on site. Still, this was enough to hike a bit into the site and see the most known rock formations.

If you are trying to do the same a few practical recommendations:

  • The train from Guangzhou to Shaoguan was not full. So I could have reserved later than I did. Still bullet trains are really popular in China, so better to reserve ahead of time.
  • Getting to Guangzhou South takes approximately 30min by metro if you are along metro line 2. You should also factor in the time needed to get through security and checkin. I would recommend being at the station 30min prior to departure. The departure floor in Guangzhou is upstairs (above the tracks that are in the middle floor); the bottom floor is only for arrivals. Follow the signs. Food and drinks are available after security, so no reason waiting downstairs.
  • In Shaoguan you need to commute from the new shiny train station way outside of town to the old train station where the bus terminal is located. This is a pretty tedious ride that takes around 30-40min. I took bus line 22 by mapping the characters. It was also the bus that most people from the train queued for, so easy to spot. It may be easier to simply get a cab.
  • At the bus terminals the shared cabs are located on the right hand side when facing the train station. On the left hand side are the numbered local busses. I also think the busses to Danxia also depart from the right hand side.

While You Are There

Shaoguan as town seemed rather uneventful. I hopped a train back to Guangzhou and from there to Guilin for the South China Karst. There is also a direct night train from Shaoguan to Guilin.

Notes

We don't have a phallic connection (yet?), but Danxiashan would be on it.


Frederik Dawson

Netherlands - 02-Sep-11 -

China Danxia by Frederik Dawson

This place currently maybe one of the least informative world heritage site in China, but after long internet searching, it is a great surprised to discover that visiting Danxiashan National Park, part of China Danxia, is very easy from Guangzhou, or even Hong Kong, and I am really happy to visit this beautiful place in one of the least visited place in the region. Danxia is a name of red sandstone landform in southern China, has many similarities with Monumental Valley and Canyonlands National Park in Utah, USA, but in the lush tropical forest of Southeast Asia environs creating unique landscape of red rock which in my opinion this place is the red version of classic Chinese mountain.

By the infamous Chinese 310 Km/h high speed train from Guangzhou, I was in Shaoguan for less than 50 minutes (normal train will take 2-4 hours!). From the new train station, I took a bus to the old train station in the city center for 2 RMB, and then took another bus to Danxiashan which depart frequently for 16 RMB. After an hour with many beautiful views of Danxia landscape along the road, the bus dropped me at a casino, part of tourist complex in front of the gate of the national park, a truly typical Chinese tourist facilities. I walked through the sleepy complex; clearly Danxiashan was not a popular tourist destination (yet), to the office ticket. The entrance fee was 100 RMB for weekday and 120 RMB for weekend, quite cheap compared to other famous national park in China and the ticket was a hard plastic card, a good souvenir.

Inside the park was well organized with many tourist buses that took me to every points of interest. My first chosen place to visit was the famed and one of the landmarks of the park, Yangyuan Stone or male stone, the large red phallus stone, actually Danxiashan also has Yingyuan Stone or women stone, because of these two bizarre rocks, locals decided to have museum on sex culture in the tourist complex to attract more tourists (thanks god! the museum is outside WHS zone). From the male stone, the bus took me to another gate which required fingerprint scan from every visitor! Then I went to another landmark of the park, the Zhanglao Peak or Elder Peak where I took cable car to the top of the peak.

On the peak, there is a beautiful forest with many lovely springs, pavilion, monasteries and hiking trails for tourists to discover, at first I planned to hike down the peak to Biechuan Buddhist Monastery, but after I visited Shaoyin Pavillion for an unbelievable beautiful view of Danxiashan, I had to give up my plan, hiking in August summer heat and high humidity was a real disaster and I was soaked with my sweat, and took the easy option of cable car. Then I took a river cruise on Jinjiang River, the view along the river was very breathtaking and high recommended. Then I took a bus back to the park entrance and walked back to casino for a bus to Shaoguan before took a high speed train back to Guangzhou.

From my experience Danxiashan National Park is a nice place to visit and very easy to be there; the park scenic is truly lovely, from the tourist brochure I notices that my visited area is just a small part of the park, there are still many nice spots to see as well as many activities for tourist including bamboo rafting. But do not visit Danxiashan in summer like me, this area is really hot and uncomfortably humid, also there is almost no English information available, knowing some Chinese or Cantonese will be a great help. All in all Danxiashan is another good World Heritage Site that China offered.


Site Info

Full Name
China Danxia
Unesco ID
1335
Country
China
Inscribed
2010
Type
Natural
Criteria
7 8
Categories
Natural landscape - Eroded
Link
By ID

Site History

2010 Advisory Body overruled

IUCN had advised Deferral

2010 Inscribed

Locations

The site has 9 locations

China Danxia: Chishui - West Section
China Danxia: Chishui - East Section
China Danxia: Taining - North Section
China Danxia: Taining -South Section
China Danxia: Langshan
China Danxia: Danxiashan
China Danxia: Longhushan: Longhushan Section
China Danxia: Longhushan: Guifeng Section
China Danxia: Jianglangshan