China's Mountains and Natural Wonders
China's landscapes run from the highest mountains on Earth to tropical coasts: sacred Buddhist and Daoist mountains, glacier-fed lakes, karst towers, deserts, grasslands and national parks. Each profile explains how the landscape formed, what lives there, its culture and legends, the seasons and the ways in.
Mountains
Sacred mountain · Mountain · Mountain range · Glacier
- Mountain · 2,691 mChangbai Mountain and Heaven Lake长白山A volcano and its crater lake on the border with Korea
- MountainMount Danxia丹霞山The red cliffs that gave their name to a landform
- Sacred mountain · 2,570 mMount Fanjing梵净山Maitreya's mountain and an island of ancient forest
- Mountain · 557 mFragrant Hills香山An imperial hunting park and autumn-leaf hill in the Western Hills
- Mountain range · 2,029 mGreater Khingan Range大兴安岭China's northern forest frontier, from the steppe to the Amur
- GlacierHailuogou Glacier海螺沟A glacier on Gongga's eastern flank that ends in forest
- Mountain range · 3,556 mHelan Mountains贺兰山The desert rampart above the Yinchuan plain
- Sacred mountain · 2,016 mMount Heng (Northern)恒山The Northern Peak of the Five Great Mountains and the Hanging Temple
- Mountain · 5,596 mJade Dragon Snow Mountain玉龙雪山The glaciated massif above Lijiang, sacred to the Naxi
- MountainMount Jinfo金佛山A karst table mountain in the Dalou range
- MountainJinggang Mountains井冈山Forested border mountains where the first rural Red Army base was built
- Sacred mountainMount Jiuhua九华山The mountain of Ksitigarbha and the monk from Silla
- MountainMount Lang崀山Red sandstone domes, slot canyons and the Fuyi river on the Hunan–Guangxi border
- Mountain · 1,132.7 mLaoshan崂山A granite Daoist mountain rising straight from the Yellow Sea
- Sacred mountainMount Longhu龙虎山Dragon and Tiger Mountain, home of the Celestial Masters
- Mountain · 1,474 mMount Lu庐山Waterfalls, academies and villas above the Yangtze and Poyang Lake
- Sacred mountain · 6,740 mMeili Snow Mountains (Kawagebo)梅里雪山Kawagebo, Yunnan's highest and unclimbed sacred peak
- Sacred mountain · 3,099 mMount Emei峨眉山Samantabhadra's mountain above the sea of clouds
- Mountain · 8,848.86 mMount Everest (Qomolangma)珠穆朗玛峰The highest mountain on Earth, seen from its northern side
- Mountain · 7,556 mMount Gongga (Minya Konka)贡嘎山The highest peak of Sichuan and the eastern Tibetan Plateau's rim
- Sacred mountain · 1,300 mMount Heng (Southern)衡山The Southern Peak of the Five Great Mountains, sacred to Daoists and Buddhists alike
- Sacred mountain · 2,155 mMount Hua华山The Western Peak: a granite massif of cliffs and Daoist halls
- Mountain · 1,864 mMount Huangshan黄山Granite peaks, crooked pines and the sea of clouds
- Sacred mountainMount Kailash (Kang Rinpoche)冈仁波齐The sacred mountain of four religions in western Tibet
- Mountain · 1,296 mMount Luofu罗浮山Ge Hong's Daoist mountain in the Pearl River Delta hinterland
- Sacred mountainMount Qingcheng青城山The secluded green mountain where Daoism took root
- Sacred mountain · 1,512 mMount Song嵩山The Central Peak, home of the Shaolin Temple
- Sacred mountain · 1,545 mMount Tai泰山The Eastern Peak, where emperors reported to Heaven
- Mountain · 7,546 mMuztagh Ata慕士塔格峰The “Father of Ice Mountains” above Karakul Lake
- Mountain · 864.4 mMount Pan盘山Pines, granite and temples on the “first mountain east of the capital”
- Mountain · 449 mPurple Mountain紫金山Nanjing's forested mountain of emperors and a republic's founder
- Sacred mountainMount Putuo普陀山Guanyin's island in the Zhoushan archipelago
- Mountain · 708 mMount Qian千山A thousand lotus peaks of Buddhist and Daoist temples near Anshan
- Mountain rangeQilian Mountains祁连山The glaciated wall whose meltwater feeds the Hexi Corridor
- Mountain range · 3,771 mQinling Mountains秦岭The range that divides northern and southern China
- MountainMount Sanqing三清山Granite pillars of the Three Pure Ones, walked on cliff-side paths
- Mountain · 6,250 mMount Siguniang四姑娘山Four snow peaks above the valleys of the Qionglai range
- Mountain · 3,771 mMount Taibai太白山The high point of the Qinling, with glacial lakes below its summit
- MountainMount Taimu太姥山Granite peaks above the sea, and the legend of white tea
- MountainTaining Danxia泰宁丹霞Young red-rock gorges around the Golden Lake
- MountainMount Tianzhu天柱山The Pillar of Heaven, once the Southern Peak of the Han emperors
- Sacred mountain · 1,612 mWudang Mountains武当山The Daoist mountain of the Perfected Warrior
- Sacred mountain · 3,061 mMount Wutai五台山Manjushri's five terraces, the oldest Buddhist mountain in China
- Mountain · 1,867 mWuzhi Mountain五指山Hainan's highest peak, the five fingers of the Li homeland
- MountainYandang Mountains雁荡山A collapsed volcano of rock pinnacles and long waterfalls
- MountainZhangye Danxia张掖七彩丹霞Striped red, ochre and white hills at the foot of the Qilian
National parks and reserves
National park · Nature reserve · Forest
- ForestChishui Danxia赤水丹霞Red sandstone gorges, waterfalls and tree-fern forest
- Nature reserve · 6,032 mDaocheng Yading稻城亚丁Three sacred snow peaks of the Tibetan borderlands
- National parkGiant Panda National Park大熊猫国家公园One park for the panda's mountains across three provinces
- National park · 1,867 mHainan Tropical Rainforest National Park海南热带雨林国家公园The tropical forests of Hainan's central mountains and the last Hainan gibbons
- Nature reserveHoh Xil可可西里The uninhabited high plateau of the Tibetan antelope
- Nature reserve · 5,588 mHuanglong黄龙Terraced travertine pools below the snows of Xuebaoding
- Nature reserve · 4,752 mJiuzhaigou九寨沟Turquoise lakes and travertine falls in the Minshan mountains
- National park · 2,158 mMount Wuyi武夷山Red cliffs of rock tea and a forest wilderness on the Fujian–Jiangxi divide
- National parkPotatso (Pudacuo) National Park普达措国家公园Alpine lakes, meadows and fir forest east of Shangri-La
- ForestSaihanba塞罕坝A planted forest on the old imperial hunting grounds north of Chengde
- National parkSanjiangyuan National Park三江源国家公园The high plateau where the Yangtze, Yellow River and Mekong begin
- Nature reserve · 3,106 mShennongjia神农架The forested roof of central China, between the Yangtze and the Han
- Nature reserve · 1,506 mTianmu Mountains天目山Giant cryptomerias, wild ginkgo and the mountain that named tenmoku
- Nature reserveWudalianchi五大连池Fourteen volcanoes and five lava-dammed lakes in northern Heilongjiang
- ForestXishuangbanna Tropical Rainforest西双版纳热带雨林China's largest tropical rainforest, home of wild Asian elephants
Lakes, rivers and gorges
Lake · River · Gorge · Waterfall · Wetland · Valley
- LakeBaiyangdian白洋淀Reed marshes and lotus lakes at the heart of the Xiong'an New Area
- LakeChagan Lake查干湖Winter net-fishing under the ice on the Songnen Plain
- WetlandChongming Dongtan Wetland崇明东滩Where the Yangtze meets the sea: Shanghai's migratory-bird frontier
- WaterfallDetian Waterfall德天瀑布A broad cross-border waterfall on the Guichun river between China and Vietnam
- LakeDongting Lake洞庭湖The flood basin of the middle Yangtze that gave Hunan and Hubei their names
- WetlandDongzhaigang Mangroves东寨港红树林China's first mangrove reserve, in a bay created by an earthquake
- GorgeEnshi Grand Canyon恩施大峡谷Limestone walls, stone pillars and a ground fissure above the Qing river
- Lake · 4,122 mErhai Lake and Cangshan洱海The highland lake and nineteen-peak range of the Bai homeland
- WaterfallHuangguoshu Waterfall黄果树瀑布The great fall of the Baishui River in Guizhou's karst
- WaterfallHukou Waterfall壶口瀑布The Yellow River squeezed into a teapot spout between Shanxi and Shaanxi
- LakeJingpo Lake镜泊湖A lava-dammed lake and its waterfall on the Mudan River
- LakeKanas Lake喀纳斯湖A glacial lake in the Altai forests at China's northern tip
- LakeLake Tai太湖The great lake at the heart of the Yangtze Delta
- RiverLi River漓江Karst towers reflected in a green river between Guilin and Yangshuo
- WetlandLiao River Estuary and Red Beach辽河口红海滩Crimson seepweed flats and reed marshes on the Bohai coast
- WetlandMai Po Marshes米埔Mangroves, mudflats and shrimp ponds on Deep Bay, a crossroads of the East Asian flyway
- Lake · 4,718 mNamtso纳木错The “heavenly lake” below the Nyenchen Tanglha range
- LakePoyang Lake鄱阳湖China's largest freshwater lake, a sea in summer and a grassland in winter
- LakeQarhan Salt Lake察尔汗盐湖A salt plain the size of a province in the Qaidam Basin
- LakeQiandao Lake千岛湖A reservoir of a thousand islands over drowned towns
- LakeQinghai Lake青海湖China's largest lake, a saline inland sea on the Tibetan Plateau
- LakeSayram Lake赛里木湖The largest alpine lake of the Tianshan, on the road to Ili
- GorgeThree Gorges of the Yangtze长江三峡Qutang, Wu and Xiling: the Yangtze's passage through the mountains
- Lake · 5,445 mTianchi and Bogda Peak天山天池A mountain lake beneath the glaciers of the eastern Tianshan
- GorgeTiger Leaping Gorge虎跳峡The Jinsha river between two snow mountains
- LakeWest Lake西湖The shaped lake that set the pattern for Chinese landscape design
- Lake · 4,441 mYamdrok Lake羊卓雍错The turquoise, scorpion-shaped holy lake south of Lhasa
- WetlandYancheng Coastal Wetlands盐城黄海湿地Tidal flats of the Yellow Sea, where cranes winter and milu roam
- Gorge · 7,782 mYarlung Tsangpo Grand Canyon雅鲁藏布大峡谷The great bend of the Yarlung Tsangpo around Namcha Barwa
- WetlandYellow River Delta黄河三角洲China's youngest land, where the Yellow River meets the Bohai Sea
- GorgeYuntai Mountain云台山Red-rock gorges and high waterfalls in the southern Taihang
- WetlandZhalong Wetland扎龙湿地The reed marshes of the red-crowned crane near Qiqihar
Karst and stone forests
Karst landscape
- Karst landscapeLeye Tiankeng乐业天坑群Giant sinkholes with forests at their floor in the karst of western Guangxi
- Karst landscapeLibo Karst Forest荔波喀斯特Forested cone karst on the edge of the Guizhou plateau
- Karst landscapeShidu十渡Karst peaks along the Juma River in Beijing's south-western hills
- Karst landscapeStone Forest (Shilin)石林Limestone pillars of the Yunnan plateau, home of the Sani Yi
- Karst landscapeWulingyuan武陵源A forest of more than 3,000 sandstone pillars in the Wuling mountains
- Karst landscapeWulong Karst武隆喀斯特Natural bridges, giant sinkholes and caves above the Wu River
Grasslands and deserts
Grassland · Desert
- DesertBadain Jaran Desert巴丹吉林沙漠The tallest stationary dunes on Earth, with lakes between them
- GrasslandBashang Grassland坝上草原The edge of the Mongolian steppe, a few hours north of Beijing
- GrasslandHulunbuir Grassland呼伦贝尔草原China's great meadow steppe between the Greater Khingan and the Mongolian border
- DesertMingsha Shan and Crescent Spring鸣沙山月牙泉Singing dunes and a crescent-shaped pool on the edge of Dunhuang
- GrasslandNalati Grassland那拉提草原Mountain pastures of the Kazakh herders in the Ili valley
- DesertShapotou沙坡头Where the Tengger Desert meets the Yellow River
- DesertTaklimakan Desert塔克拉玛干沙漠The sand sea of the Tarim Basin, ringed by Silk Road oases
Coasts and islands
Coast · Island
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