Located in the northeast of Shaoguan city in Guangdong Province, Mount Danxia is called 'Red Stone Park of China', 45 kilometers (28 miles) away from downtown Shaoguan. Danxia means the 'red rays of the sun' in Chinese. It is the peculiar landform characterized by red steep cliffs, flat valleys and sheer body. Geologist classifies the same sort formations into 'Danxia Landform'. Mount Danxia is the most beautiful and typical among the other 700 landforms which are found elsewhere in China.
The recognition of Mount Danxia can trace back to 1,500 years ago, when our ancestors approached it and put their admiration into beautiful poems. The numberless sized red stone peaks, stone walls, stone bridges and the like are scattered randomly over the mountain.
What impress us most are the peaks. The top is flat, one or more sides are almost upright cliffs, while the opposite side is the gently sloping hill. More often the gentle places are covered by lush vegetation, and the place that the red stones expose are usually the craggy cliffs. The unique body endows the peaks with the beauty of majesty as well as the charm of softness. Standing in front of the cliffs, the stone wall of hundreds of meters high is like the magnificent pillar that holds up the sky. Overlooking the mountain from afar, the line of the summit and mountain slopes brings you a feeling of softness and intimacy.
The peculiar red stone in Mount Danxia came into being 100 million years ago. It was an inland basin here at that time in which the surrounding rocks broke and accumulated. It was pretty hot and dry then, thus the rock was oxidized and turned rusty. Undergoing a period of 30,000,000 years, the deposits in the basin gradually transformed into red sandstone and conglomerate. Later, as a result of the crustal movement, the land rose and turned into the mountainous area. The long-time erosion made it present Danxia Landform constituted by red sandstone.
Mount Danxia is not only bright in color, but peculiar in outlook. Yangyuan Stone, Yinyuan Stone and Longlin Stone are the most distinctive among the others. Yangyuan Stone is a colossal stone rising sharply into the sky with the height of 28 meters (92 feet) and the diameter of 7 meters(7.7 yards). Yinyuan Stone is a crack that was eroded by the running water on the mountain, and it is considered as the 'Mother Stone' and 'Source of Life'. The two special stones face each other across the mountain, one is masculine and the other is feminine, one is firm and the other is tender. The perfect match of the two stones is far enough to stir up your astonishment and exclamation. The surface of Longlin Stone has some similarity to the scale of the dragon, connected to be the lines by thousands of honeycomb-like holes. The color of the epiphytic moss varies as the climate changes, resembling a huge dragon on the stone wall, undoubtedly a wonder in nature.
Now, Mount Danxia is a world geological park renamed as 'China Red Stone Park'.
Ticket:
A. Entrance Fee: CNY 100 (weekdays), and CNY 120 (weekends & public holidays)
B. Cable Car: CNY 60 for a round way and CNY 40 for a single way (weekdays); CNY 70 for a round way and CNY 45 for a single way (weekends & public holidays)
Transportation: There are Danxia Tourism Special trains to the Xinshan Gate of Mount Danxia from Shaoguan Railway Station every 15 minutes daily, and the ticket is CNY 15 per person for a single way.
