Fanjingshan

Overview

About

Fanjingshan (梵净山) was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2018 as a natural site.

Travel tips

Getting there: the nearest airport is Tongren Fenghuang, on the Guizhou-Hunan border about 21 km from Tongren city. From Guiyang take a train to Tongren and then a bus to Jiangkou or Yinjiang counties, whose county towns are the main places to stay.

Entrances: the mountain lies where Jiangkou, Yinjiang and Songtao counties meet in Tongren, with several entrances, each with its own ticket and shuttle bus; the towns of Jiangkou and Yinjiang are the usual starting points.

The summit: the summit area is a set of steep rock spires; the New Golden Summit (Red Cloud Golden Summit) is 2,336 m high and is climbed by stone steps, narrow and queued when busy. The Mushroom Rock, about 10 m tall, stands nearby.

Wildlife and plants: the park is the only home of the Guizhou snub-nosed monkey, which lives in forest at roughly 1,000 to 2,000 m and is rarely seen by visitors. The mountain has large stands of old forest and fir.

Time: the summit alone takes most of a day including transfers; the western route and surrounding areas need two days.

Season: spring brings rhododendrons, summer is cool, autumn is clearer, and in winter rime ice and snow cover the summit and the steps freeze. Rain and mist are common all year.

Where to stay: there is almost no lodging in the park; most visitors stay in Jiangkou or Yinjiang and visit in a day.

Caution: paths are wet and steep, so wear non-slip shoes and carry rain gear. Stay on the paths inside the reserve and do not feed monkeys.

Why it was inscribed

The World Heritage Committee found that it meets criterion (x) of the ten selection criteria:

(x) the most important and significant natural habitats for in-situ conservation of biological diversity, including those containing threatened species of outstanding universal value.

Description (UNESCO World Heritage Centre)

Located within the Wuling mountain range in Guizhou Province (south-west China), Fanjingshan ranges in altitude between 500 metres and 2,570 metres above sea level, favouring highly diverse types of vegetation and relief. It is an island of metamorphic rock in a sea of karst, home to many plant and animal species that originated in the Tertiary period, between 65 million and 2 million years ago. The property’s isolation has led to a high degree of biodiversity with endemic species, such as the Fanjingshan Fir (Abies fanjingshanensis) and the Guizhou Snub-nosed Monkey (Rhinopithecus brelichi),

Photo credits: Red Cloud Golden Summit, Mount Fanjing, Guizhou: sizzhot0 (CC0, Wikimedia Commons)

Nearby

Straight-line distances. Search nearby