Wuyishan National Park

Overview

Introduction

Wuyishan National Park lies on the northern Wuyi Mountains, on the border of Fujian and Jiangxi. It is built around the Wuyishan National Nature Reserve, the Wuyishan scenic area and the protected upper reaches of the Nine-Bend Stream; about 1,001 km² is in Fujian and 279 km² in Jiangxi.

A national park pilot began in 2016 and the park was formally set up in 2021. Mount Wuyi is a mixed cultural and natural World Heritage Site.

According to the National Forestry and Grassland Administration (2026), new species have been found in the park since it was set up, among them a horned toad, the Wuyi wood frog and a Gastrodia orchid.

Park areas

The Fujian part lies in Nanping, covering Wuyishan City, Jianyang District, Guangze County and Shaowu City.

The Jiangxi part lies in Yanshan County, Shangrao, on the northwestern slope of the northern Wuyi Mountains.

The highest peak, Huanggang Shan (2,160.8 m), sits on the Fujian–Jiangxi border and is the highest point of the Wuyi Mountains.

On the Fujian side, a 4,252 km² protection and development belt surrounds the park, covering 4 counties/districts, 31 townships and 203 villages.

The Fujian part is run by the Wuyishan National Park Administration, directly under the Fujian provincial government, which took over the conservation duties of the former nature reserve and scenic area authorities.

Nature and wildlife

The park holds the largest and most intact primary mid-subtropical forest ecosystem at its latitude, including 210.7 km² of undisturbed primary forest (Ministry of Ecology and Environment, 2023).

The Fujian part has recorded 2,866 species of higher plants (2 under first-class and 61 under second-class national protection) and 7,603 animal species (17 first-class and 99 second-class protected) (2023).

Records include 391 bird, 66 snake, 46 amphibian and 6,913 insect species; the area is known as a kingdom of snakes and insects.

Flagship species include Cabot's tragopan, Elliot's pheasant, the golden kaiser-i-hind butterfly, Chinese yew and Bretschneidera sinensis; the golden kaiser-i-hind is China's only butterfly under first-class protection.

The Fujian part has yielded 62 new species since the 2016 pilot; in 2024 a new newt, the Huanggangshan newt, was described from the Jiangxi part.

Since 2020, surveys have recorded over 480 species of macrofungi in the Wuyi Mountains, and a new Russula species named after Wuyishan was published in 2026.

Places to visit

Nine-Bend Stream (Jiuqu Xi) bamboo rafts: float downstream past Danxia peaks and cliff coffins.

Tianyou Peak: the main viewpoint of the Wuyishan Scenic Area, overlooking the Nine-Bend Stream.

Da Hong Pao: the original Da Hong Pao tea bushes on a cliff and the rock-tea gardens of Jiulongke.

Wuyishan National Park Scenic Road No. 1: the 72 km park section runs from Hongxing Village (Xingcun Town) north to Tongmu Pass and south to the Huangkeng visitor center in Jianyang; opened May 2024.

Travel tips

Wuyishan City has Wuyishan Airport, and Wuyishan East Station is on the Hefei–Fuzhou high-speed railway; the Jiangxi side is reached via Shangrao and Yanshan.

Spring (April–May, the tea-picking season) and autumn are best; summer brings thunderstorms, and rafting may stop when the stream rises.

Human activity is generally prohibited in the core protection zone; areas beyond Tongmu Pass and around Huanggang Shan are off-limits without permits. Visits center on the scenic area and the scenic road.

Tickets and rafts usually require advance real-name booking. Do not carry fire into the forest, stay on trails, and watch for snakes after rain.

More photos

Map

Relief from Mapterhorn elevation data (a compilation of Copernicus and other sources); rivers and protected areas from OpenStreetMap; provincial boundaries from Alibaba DataV.

Photo credits: The Nine-Bend Stream with bamboo rafts: John Lian (CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons); Tianyou Peak: rheins (CC BY 3.0, Wikimedia Commons); The Tongmu Stream and its forests: rheins (CC BY 3.0, Wikimedia Commons); The mother Da Hong Pao tea bushes on the cliff at Jiulongke: Windmemories (CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons)

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