Yunnan Stone Forest

Yunnan Stone Forest is classic karst. Karst is a name for geological features. This name originates from the limestone plateau in present southwestern Slovenia extending to northeastern Italy. In the late 19th century, Yugoslav geologists conducted extensive research on the various peculiar landforms developed in that area, and named the landforms with local names. Then the word karst became the universal geological term in the world. In China, karst is also known as yanrong (rock solution).

Guilin, Guangxi

Daqikong Arch of Triumph, Libo, Guizhou

Karst is the most common but the most diverse landform in the world, accounting for about 10% of the total world area. China has a karst landform of about 2 million square kilometers, including1.3 million square kilometers of surface karst and 700,000 square kilometers of underground karst. Karst landform is distributed in all provinces and regions of China, but most is in the south, especially Guangxi, Guizhou, Yunnan, and Chongqing.

3 Natural Bridges, Wulong

Furong Cave, Wulong

Yunnan Stone Forest has diverse karst types including not only surface karst shapes like sword, column, tower as well as cone peaks, depression, doline, natural bridge, cliff waterfall, and plateaus lakes, but also underground karst including river, caves, stalactite, stalactite column, curtain, and sinter. Therefore, Stone Forest is also known as karst landform museum.