The Karst Landscape of South China, a Heritage to Preserve

Karst is a Slovene word that sounds as hard as rock. You need to be a scientist to fully understand the nature of these calcareous formations carved in the rock by water; but anyone can admire the spectacular landscapes they provide. This is what China has for us to marvel at. This is a country which, according to experts, is home to half of the world’s emerged calcareous rocks.

South China offers some of the most diverse karst landscapes on the planet. Covering some 600,000 sq km, with Guizhou Province in the center, the karst formations of South China constitute the biggest karst region in the world.

A long and complex evolution gave way to these exceptional rocks. They include the three most typical karst formations in the world: single cones (fenglin), multiple cones sharing a common base (fengcong), and unusual karst phenomena like tiankeng (giant pits) and difeng (deep cracks). Of the 70 tiankeng known to exist on earth, 50 are found in South China. The region also features a spectacular system of underground grottoes.

Stone Forest . (Image: China Today)Internationally renowned experts agree that the value of the karst formations in South China is exceptional. After visiting the region, Dr. Major Sweeting of the Oxford University said, “The karst formations allow us now to answer questions that were previously left unanswered.” Prof. Derek Ford of McMaster University in Canada and Prof. Paul Williams of Auckland University in New-Zealand, both geomorphologists specialized in karst, claimed, “If you ask a geomorphologist to draw a shortlist of grandiose landscapes in the world, South China would top it. They would be our first choice for the World Heritage List.”

It is in this context, and to better preserve this “Heritage of the Earth,” that China decided to present to the UNESCO the candidacy of three sites offering the best combinations of karst formations: Wulong (Chongqing Municipality), for its unique combination of rocks and its underground system; Libo (Guizhou Province), for its cone formations and the biodiversity of its karst forest ecosystem; and Shilin (Yunnan Province), for its sword-shaped formations. The region as a whole covers 1,460 square kilometers and its beauty is beyond compare.