China Danxia

China usually doesn’t have much trouble inscribing sites, but it did have a hard time with China Danxia. “Danxia” is an elusive subject, even Wikipedia isn’t able to define it in one sentence (it calls it “pseudo-karst” consisting of red-coloured sandstones from the Cretaceous and limited to China). ICOMOS and IUCN couldn’t really wrap their heads around it either – IUCN basically saying there isn’t such a thing as a globally acknowledged Danxia landform and ICOMOS insisting that this should be a cultural site (criterion VI, rich cultural associations) instead of a natural site (criterion VII, natural beauty).

Eight out of the nine locations that comprise the WHS of ‘China Danxia’ have so far stayed unreviewed on this website. I visited a ‘new’ one – the Guifeng section of Longhushan National Park. This site is separate from the main Longhushan park (both in geographical reality and in the inscribed list of components), but they share the same site management and Global Geopark status. The strength of Guifeng is that it is very compact, so you can get a good impression of what Danxia entails within a relatively short amount of time.

Unlike other Chinese mountain WHS, this is not a place to wander endlessly. There is one main trail that everybody follows. Here and there you can choose to skip a specific detour to a peak or an ‘attraction’ (more on those later!), but in general, you all start and end at the same place. I walked 8.7 …

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 …

This place currently maybe one of the least informative world heritage sites 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 places 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 facility. 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 …