Southern Danxia and Its "Little Brothers" (Part 1)

"Danxia and the bright moon, the stars shining through the clouds." Cao Pi probably never imagined that his poem would be associated with geology over a thousand years later. To describe a red sandstone landform characterized by steep cliffs, rigorous geologists romantically associated this landform with the colorful clouds in the sky and named it after the Danxia in Cao Pi's poem. The Danxia landforms identified in China are widely distributed in 1,005 locations across 28 provinces, with the most concentrated areas being in the southwest, central south, and northwest regions. In August 2010, the "China Danxia" nomination, consisting of six sites including Danxia Mountain in Guangdong, Lang Mountain in Hunan, Chishui in Guizhou, Jianglang Mountain in Zhejiang, Taining in Fujian, and Longhu Mountain in Jiangxi, became China's 40th World Heritage Site. These six Danxia landforms are all located in the south, so let's call them Southern Danxia for now. During the nomination process, the reason for selecting these sites was that the Danxia landforms in China's humid regions combine red mountains, green forests, and clear waters to create the most spectacular, attractive, and colorful Danxia landscapes, representing different stages of Danxia landform evolution. To some extent, the nomination process is also a process of negotiation. Especially in China at present, for local leaders, the nomination often carries the task of increasing visibility and developing the tourism industry to boost the local economy. The six nominated sites that were ultimately selected for the "China Danxia" nomination are naturally "born beautiful," but in terms of viewing, those that didn't make the cut may not necessarily be of lesser quality. In fact, most of them are not far from the selected sites, or even right next to them. Let's take a look at these Southern Danxia and their "little brothers."