Karst landscape · Guangxi
Leye Tiankeng
乐业天坑群
Giant sinkholes with forests at their floor in the karst of western Guangxi
The Leye tiankeng are a cluster of giant collapse sinkholes in Leye county, western Guangxi, the largest of which, Dashiwei, is about 600 metres deep with an undisturbed forest on its floor. They are part of the Leye-Fengshan UNESCO Global Geopark, designated in 2010, and helped establish “tiankeng” — “heavenly pit” — as an international term in karst science.
- UNESCO Global Geopark (Leye-Fengshan) · 2010
- National geopark
Key facts
- Deepest
- Dashiwei, about 600 m
- Rock
- Carboniferous and Permian limestone
- UNESCO Global Geopark
- 2010, Leye-Fengshan[1]
- Location
- Leye county, Baise, Guangxi
Overview
In the limestone uplands of Leye county, on the southern edge of the Yunnan–Guizhou Plateau, the ground opens into more than twenty great shafts with sheer walls and forested floors. Local people knew them as places to avoid; scientists surveyed them from the late 1990s, and the cluster became one of the key references for defining the tiankeng as a distinct karst feature: a sinkhole of exceptional width and depth, formed by collapse over an underground river.
The floors of the largest tiankeng hold primeval forest that has developed in isolation, sheltered from wind and people, with plants and cave animals that have caught the attention of biologists. Around them lie caves, underground rivers and natural bridges that make the county one of the richest karst areas in China.
How the landscape formed
The tiankeng formed in thick Carboniferous and Permian limestones. Underground rivers enlarged caverns beneath the plateau until their roofs collapsed, leaving vertical-walled shafts that reach down to the river level. Because western Guangxi is being gradually uplifted, the rivers cut ever deeper, and the collapses followed them downward. Dashiwei is the classic example: an oval pit several hundred metres across, with an underground river flowing through caves at its base. Other shafts in the cluster show earlier or later stages, from partly collapsed caverns to old, degraded pits.
Highlights
Dashiwei Tiankeng
大石围天坑
The largest of the group, about 600 metres deep, with a primeval forest on its floor, seen from viewing platforms on the rim.
Chuandong Tiankeng
穿洞天坑
A deep shaft reached through a cave passage, with a path down to its forested floor.
Huangjingdong Tiankeng
黄猄洞天坑
A shaft with a walking trail that descends to the floor, giving a view upward to the rim.
Buliu River Natural Bridge
布柳河仙人桥
A great limestone arch spanning the Buliu river, one of the largest natural bridges in China.
Luomei Lotus Cave
罗妹莲花洞
A cave with pools of lotus-shaped calcite formations on its floor.
Plants and wildlife
The floors of the tiankeng are natural refuges: shaded, humid and cut off from the plateau above, they preserve forest that has never been logged. Surveys have found tree ferns, rare plants and invertebrates, and the underground rivers hold cave fish adapted to darkness, some of them new to science.
Plants
Tree fern
桫椤
Alsophila spinulosa, a relict tree fern that grows on the humid floor of Dashiwei.
Primeval forest
原始森林
Evergreen broadleaf forest on the pit floors, untouched because it was all but unreachable.
Wildlife
Cave fish
盲鱼
Eyeless, pale fish of the underground rivers, adapted to permanent darkness.
Culture and legend
Leye is a county of Zhuang, Han and Yao communities in Baise prefecture, on the upper reaches of the Hongshui river system. The Chinese word 天坑 (tiānkēng) was taken into scientific English in the early 2000s, when Chinese and international karst researchers adopted it for the giant sinkholes of south China.
Tiankeng
天坑
“Heavenly pit”: a collapse sinkhole wider and deeper than 100 metres with sheer walls, now an international karst term.
Baise
百色
The prefecture-level city that administers Leye county.
History
1998
Scientific survey of Dashiwei
Expeditions descend into the pit and map its forest and underground river, drawing national attention.
2005
Tiankeng defined as a karst term
An international karst conference in China adopts tiankeng for giant collapse sinkholes, citing the Guangxi examples.
2010
UNESCO Global Geopark
Leye and neighbouring Fengshan are designated together as the Leye-Fengshan Geopark.
Through the seasons
Spring
Warm and increasingly humid, with fresh growth in the pit forests and frequent mist on the plateau.
Summer
The rainy season: waterfalls pour into some shafts and underground rivers run high; paths may close after storms.
Autumn
Dry, clear and comfortable, the best time for rim views and descents.
Winter
Mild and dry by day, cool at night on the plateau; low mist often fills the pits in the morning.
Routes and ways in
Dashiwei rim
Paths and platforms around part of the rim give views down to the forest floor; descent into Dashiwei itself is restricted.
Descent into Huangjingdong or Chuandong
Stepped paths descend to the floors of smaller tiankeng; steep and humid, taking a few hours in and out.
Practical notes
- Descents are steep and humid; good footwear and water are needed, and some paths close in heavy rain.
- Stay on marked paths and platforms: rims are unstable and the floors are fragile ecosystems.
- Leye is remote; the usual approach is via Baise, which has an airport and high-speed rail, and Nanning, the regional capital.
Cities to start from
Frequently asked questions
Sources
- UNESCO Global Geoparks — UNESCO (retrieved 27 September 2026)
- Baise Municipal People's Government — Baise Municipal People's Government (retrieved 27 September 2026)
- Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region People's Government — Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region People's Government (retrieved 27 September 2026)
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