Foguang Cliff 佛光岩

About Foguang Cliff

The Zunyi municipal government describes the Chishui Danxia tourist area as covering 36.3 square kilometres in the south of Chishui City and as made up of three sections: the Chishui Great Waterfall, Foguangyan and Yanziyan. Its stated features are danxia landforms, groups of waterfalls, bamboo seas, tree ferns and primeval forest. The area is at once the core scenic area of the world natural heritage site, a national geopark, a national forest park and a national nature reserve, and lies within the Chishui national key scenic area. The municipal page records that the danxia landform there coexists with extensive ancient vegetation and 2,359 species of plants and animals, including rare and endangered ones.

Foguangyan itself is an arc of cliff measured at 1,117 metres along the curve with a drop of 385 metres, in rock the municipal government dates to the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods. A columnar waterfall 269 metres high and 42 metres wide falls down the centre of the arc. The wider formation is described as a representative of danxia landform at an early youthful stage of development; the page gives Chishui Danxia a core zone of 273.64 square kilometres. On 2 August 2010 Chishui Danxia was inscribed on the World Heritage List together with Langshan in Hunan, Danxiashan in Guangdong, Taining in Fujian, Longhushan in Jiangxi and Jianglangshan in Zhejiang, under the serial name China Danxia, which the municipal government records as China's eighth world natural heritage property.

What to look for

• The arc of the cliff itself, 1,117 metres along its curve with a drop of 385 metres.
• The columnar waterfall down the centre of the cliff, 269 metres high and 42 metres wide.
• The red rock of the cliff, which the municipal government dates to the Jurassic and Cretaceous.
• The setting the heritage listing rests on: danxia cliffs among bamboo seas, tree ferns and primeval forest, with 2,359 species of plants and animals recorded in the area.
• The two other sections of the same tourist area, the Chishui Great Waterfall and Yanziyan.

Location & getting there

Getting to Foguang Cliff

Use an authorised visitor route. Cave sections, geological sites and access roads can close independently, so confirm the area that your ticket covers.

• Search for 佛光岩 with 遵义市 and 赤水市.