Huangguoshu Waterfalls Scenic Area

Chinese name: 黄果树瀑布（Huang Guo Shu Pu Bu）  
Location: Anshun county, Guizhou Province. (about 140km from Guiyang)
Ticket: Entrance ticket CNY160.00 during 01Mar to 30Nov, CNY150.00 during 01Dec to 28Feb; sightseeing bus CNY50.00, Round-trip Grand Escalator CNY50.00 (Entrance ticket include Tianxing Bridge and Doupotang waterfall)
Estimated tour time: 3-5 hours
Recommended time to visit: May to Oct
Nearby attractions: Dragon Palace, Malinghe Grand Canyon, Tianlongtun Pu, Confucian temple, etc.

Located in west Guizhou, Huangguoshu National Park of China is 128 km from Guiyang and 45 km from Anshun, a tourist destination in West China. The park istraversed with Yunnan-Guizhou railway, Zhuzhou-Liupanshui II Track Railway, National Road #320, and Guiyang-Huangguoshu High Grade Road, etc and encompasses the Huangguoshu Airport and the newly-built Qingzhen-Huangguoshu Freeway. 

The park centers at Huangguoshu Waterfall (height: 77.8m, width: 101.0m) and is scatted with 18 waterfalls of varied sizes, some precipitous and majestic, others picturesque and fantastic. All the waterfalls form a great “family”, which is ranked as the largest in the world in the Guinness Book of World Records. The giant Huangguoshu Waterfall is the most magnificent member in the family and the only waterfall that can be viewed from above, below, front, back, left and right in the world. It is also with a water curtain cave in the back through which tourists can hear, view, and touch the waterfall. The great Ming traveler Xu Xiake, when investigating the waterfall, remarked, “the sprays burst apart like pearls and jades and the foams rise like a mist. The waterfall is with such a momentum that even the couplet ‘a screen of pearl released from hooks/or silk that hangs on faraway peaks’ cannot describe to the full its majesty. I have seen waterfalls that are much higher and more precipitous, but never a waterfall with such a width and magnificent.”

Centering at Huangguoshu Waterfall Resort, the Huangguoshu National Park of China encompasses such resorts as Stone Village, Tianxing Bridge, Dripping Shoal, Balinghe River Valley with the site of the ancient post path, Doupotang, and langgong, etc. It isamong the first batch of national key scenic spots and of AAAA resorts ranked by the government. The resort has been successively designated as the national popular science education base, “National ”, and “Most Charming Tourist Resort in West China”. In 2005, it was ranked as the “most beautiful place in China” by Chinese National Geography, “10 Tourist Resorts of Customer Satisfaction in China” by People’s Daily, and “10 European Tourists’ Favorite Resorts in China”, etc.

Huangguoshu Tourist Resort features beautiful natural environment, refreshing air (with over 28,000 negative oxygen ions per cubic centimeter according to the statistics of the  provincial environmental protection department), a pleasant climate (with the annual average temperature at 16ºC), long historical and cultural tradition, and complete supporting facilities. It is an ideal resort for amusement, rehabilitation, sightseeing, and “lung-washing”.

● Tianxing Resort

Tianxing Resort is a fully developed zone in Huangguoshu National Park. The planned area of the resort is 7 square km and the developed area for tourism is 4.5 square km, which is divided into 3 interconnected parts, namely, Tianxingpen Resort, Tianxingdong Resort, and Waterborne Stone Forest Zone. The resort is integrated with mountains, waters, forests and caves, featuring dense stalagmites, lush forests, and limpid water.

Located on the surface of a 500-m-long underground stream west to the river bank, the Tianxingpen Resort is about 800 meters long with natural rock formations of various sizes. A 3-km-long stone-planked path winds through the stone walls, moats, and openings and above the rock formations. Wandering in the resort, you can appreciate the natural beauty of the mountains and the hills and the majesty of the stone forest. The stone forest nearby and the remote peaks are reflected in the dark green water, unfolding a light, elegant, pleasant landscape. You can also take a bamboo raft, float in between the valleys and the stone forest, and enjoy the natural scenery from another perspective.

Tianxingpen Resort has also such natural scenic spots as Beauty Banyan, Celestial Palms, Slanting Comb, Panda Holding Bamboos, and Wing-Spreading Hawk, etc. Tianxingdong Resort is located in the middle of Tianxing resort. Besides the stalactites in the cave, the scenic spot has also a special sight outside the cave: the sight called “a gleam of sky” has a very narrow path that is over 20 meters long; Maoshuitan Pond is the outlet of an underground river. When there is a flood, the river under the heavy impact can rise as high as 5 to 6 meters high, which forms a majestic scene.

The river bed in the Waterborne Stone Forest zone is as wide as 400 meters, in the midst of which the stone forest stands, covering an area of about 0.4 square km. The forest is washed by the river for years, which is scattered with large patches of cactus and shrubs and shaded under the green trees. On the cold stones is a scene of the prosperity of life. As the saying goes, “the water runs over the stones, and the stones crouch over the water. There are stones over stones with trees growing on top of them.” The Waterborne Stone Forest zone boasts of many scenic spots, such as Banyan Party, Root King, Root Screen, Winding Roots and Picturesque Wall, Celestial Lady, etc. The Galaxy Waterfall and the Xingxia Waterfall are also located on the left and right sides of the stone forest.

● Doupotang Waterfall

Located 1 km from the upper reaches of Huangguoshu Waterfall, Doupotang Waterfall is 105 meters wide in the top and 21 meters high. It is the widest in the top among all the waterfalls in the park. On the top of the waterfall is a large water-eroded pool covering an area of 15,000 square meters, and the waterfall is formed on the calcified bay that is over 100 meters long. There is another special phenomenon in the scenic spot, that is, the waterfall will produce a rumbling noise every year before the flood comes, hence the name “roaring waterfall”.

“Upon hearing the rumbling noise of the waterfall, I looked northward from between the mountains and saw suddenly a river dashing from the northeastern peaks along the cliff and pounding into the deep pond below. The upper part of the waterfall is dozens of meters wide misted with foams and sprays, while the lower one I could not see, for the cliffs on the opposite obstructed my view.” This is the description of Doupotang Waterfall in Xu Xiake’s Travelog by the famous traveler.

In 2005, Doupotang Waterfall was added with fishing and bird-viewing (of peacocks) facilities, etc, and the “Phoenix Garden” was built into the resort zone featuring numerous beautiful flowers and birds.