China Danxia

UNESCO Natural World Heritage site — a serial property of six Danxia landscapes across six provinces, representing China's defining red-cliff-and-pillar sandstone landform type, including Danxia Mountain, Zhangye, Taining and Langshan.

China Danxia was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2010 as a serial natural property comprising six component sites across six Chinese provinces: Danxia Mountain (Guangdong), Zhangye Danxia (Gansu), Taining (Fujian), Langshan (Hunan), Chishui (Guizhou), and Longhu Mountain (Jiangxi). The property covers approximately 82,000 hectares and represents the full range of danxia landform types — a term coined in China for the distinctive cliff-and-pillar landscapes formed by the erosion of Cretaceous red sandstone and conglomerates.

Danxia Mountain in Guangdong, the type locality that gave its name to the landform class, features dramatic red cliffs, isolated rock pillars and boulder-strewn valleys covered in subtropical forest. Ayang Rock, a particularly striking formation at Danxia Mountain, has become one of China's most reproduced landscape photographs for its resemblance to a human body part — an association that draws curiosity from visitors.

Zhangye Danxia in Gansu is the most photographed component site, famous for its extraordinary polychrome (multi-coloured) sandstone layers — exposed in vivid bands of red, orange, yellow, green and purple — visible from viewing platforms above the eroded badlands. The colour arises from the varying mineral content of successive sedimentary layers deposited during the Cretaceous and subsequently differentially weathered. Zhangye is accessible from the city of Zhangye (Ganzhou) on the Hexi Corridor, served by high-speed rail.

Longhu Mountain in Jiangxi is the founding site of the Celestial Masters branch of Taoism and preserves cliff-face hanging coffins of the ancient Yue people alongside the natural landscape.