National Parks of ChinaOverview
| Designation | National Park of China (third batch) |
| Province | Yunnan |
| Location | Western Yunnan on the Myanmar border |
| Latitude, longitude | 25.0, 98.4 |
| Highlights | Hot springs and volcanoes |
| Top sights | The Hot Sea |
| Wildlife | Rhododendrons, camellias |
| Area | 130 km² |
| Highest point | 3,374 m |
| Nearby cities | Yunnan, Dali, Kunming |
| Nearby sites | Ruili River and Daying River, Dali, Jade Dragon Snow Mountain and Lijiang, Stone Forest of Lunan, Three Parallel Rivers of Yunnan, Cultural Landscape of Old Tea Forests of the Jingmai Mountain in Pu’er |
| Themes | Hot springs & geothermal, Volcanoes, Springs, Mountains, Streams, Plants, Stamps |
About
The Tengchong scenic area lies in western Yunnan on the Myanmar border at the foot of the Gaoligong Mountains of the Hengduan range, 130 km². It has boiling springs, steam vents, fountains and hot-spring groups, China’s second largest geothermal field, and more than 90 volcanic cones with pumice, volcanic bombs and lava caves.
The core sight, the Hot Sea (Rehai), 10.5 km south of the town, covers 8 km² with seven kinds of feature: fumaroles, steaming ground, boiling springs, fountains, hot springs, hot-water explosions and poison-gas vents. Its main springs are the Great Boiling Pot at Liuhuangtang, the Huanggualing steam gully and the boiling springs of the Zaotang River.
The Great Boiling Pot at Liuhuangtang, 16 km south-west of the town, is a round pool about 3 m across and over 1 m deep in the middle of a terrace in a mountain hollow, bubbling and spouting everywhere at 96 °C. The Huanggualing steam gully 2 km to the south has a steaming stream at 95 °C in a small valley. Between them the Zaotang River valley winds with lava like a great black python, the “volcano snake”; its boiling springs are 95 °C, with the Toad Mouth fountain and the Lion Head spring, and in winter and spring the stream itself is about 40 °C.
The Gaoligong Mountains, up to 3,374 m, grow rhododendrons, camellias and magnolias; one rhododendron over 280 years old, 25 m tall and 2.6 m round, is called the king of rhododendrons.
The Ming traveller Xu Xiake described the Hot Sea and the Great Boiling Pot: “from afar the steam of the gorge rises in several places east and west, thick as rolling smoke and mist … water spouts from the steam as if a furnace bellows fanned flames below, one leap, one pause, like breathing; wind and water press together, bursting like a crossbow, roaring like a tiger … the wind curls from the middle and the water shoots sideways, dragging a man several feet off, the spray still scalding the face.”
Stamps
On 18 August 2007 China Post issued 2007-23 “Tengchong Geothermal Area and Volcanoes”, three stamps: the Hot Sea, the volcano group and Shenzhu Valley.
