Neiguan Karst Landscape 内莞喀斯特山水

About Neiguan Karst Landscape

Lianping sits in the Jiulian mountains of northern Guangdong, where mountains, hills and basins make up more than nine tenths of the county and the average elevation is 693.5 metres. The county government classifies its landforms into four groups, and one of them is the karst terrain of Bitou and Neiguan, so the limestone here is a recognised regional landform type rather than an isolated curiosity. Neiguan town covers 231.5 square kilometres and was formed by merging the former Jiulian and Neiguan towns; it has around 19,000 registered residents across eleven villages, among them Lanzhou, the county's only She ethnic minority village. The Neiguan sector is the karst part, locally nicknamed 'little Yangshuo', and what visitors look at is a combination of limestone hills, farmland and the two banks of the Daxi River.

The one named scenic area in the belt is Shengji Cangyan, about twelve kilometres from the county town and counted among the old Eight Views of Lianping. It brings together farmland, orchards and limestone caves, with an underground river as its most distinctive feature. The caves divide into a water cave, through which a clear stream runs, and a dry cave whose formations carry descriptive names such as Tongtian Qiguan, Guanyin Zuolian, Lingshe Huiyou and Shenying Hutao. Outside the cave mouth stand tall old trees, including two rare pines whose bark scales grow downwards, known locally as daolin song. In 2000 the provincial tourism bureau included the area among a hundred notable sites in Guangdong. Because the catalogue entry names a landscape rather than a gate, viewpoints in Neiguan are scattered across the town and are not all managed together.

What to look for

• The limestone hills rising out of farmland across the Neiguan sector of the town, the feature behind its 'little Yangshuo' nickname
• The two banks of the Daxi River as it runs through the karst country
• Shengji Cangyan's water cave, with a clear stream running through it, and its dry cave formations
• The underground river recorded as the cave area's most distinctive feature
• The two rare downward-scaled pines standing outside the cave mouth

Location & getting there

Getting to Neiguan Karst Landscape

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 内莞喀斯特山水 with 河源市 and 连平县.