Yuntai Mountain 云台山

About Yuntai Mountain

Unlike common limestone karst, the site retains a complete set of geological features: strata structure, peaks and canyons, caves and water systems, showing the full evolution of dolomite landforms. The Guizhou Provincial Forestry Bureau explains that dolomite is a carbonate rock containing both calcium and a higher proportion of magnesium, harder to dissolve than limestone, and that Shibing's terrain has developed over 570 million years to display this distinctive dolomite karst landscape; the site meets World Heritage evaluation criteria vii and viii. International heritage experts Smith and Williams are quoted praising Shibing Karst as 'the world's most beautiful dolomite karst'.

The wider heritage site has steep terrain with climate varying from valley to summit, forest cover of 93.95 per cent, and predominantly primary vegetation succession. It holds 1,094 vascular plant species, including 112 ferns, 23 gymnosperms and 959 angiosperms, with 9 endemic species and many relict plants, and 328 vertebrate species, including 50 fish, 19 amphibians, 35 reptiles, 168 birds and 56 mammals, with 25 endemic species. The heritage site, mainly comprising the Yuntaishan, Shanmuhe and Heichong scenic areas, covers 10,280 hectares with an 18,015-hectare buffer zone, and was inscribed at the 38th World Heritage Committee session in Doha, Qatar, on 23 June 2014, jointly with Guilin in Guangxi and Jinfo Shan in Chongqing.

The Yuntaishan scenic area itself belongs to the Wuyanghe National Scenic Area, and its main visitor draws are Buddhist and Daoist culture, historic sites, unusual peaks and rocks, natural ecology and celestial-phenomena viewing. Because of its distinctive karst landform, it is listed among 'China's Hundred Summer-Resort Mountains' and is a national AAAA tourist attraction.

What to look for

• The cone-shaped dolomite karst peak clusters and canyons, retaining a complete sequence of geological features from strata to caves
• The mountain's Buddhist and Daoist historic sites
• The area's unusual peak and rock formations
• Celestial-phenomena viewing, one of the scenic area's listed attractions

Location & getting there

Getting to Yuntai Mountain

Check weather, trail access and the last return service. A mountain or forest area is not one entrance, and a map’s central pin may be far from the trailhead.

• Search for 云台山 with 黔东南苗族侗族自治州 and 施秉县.