Magnificent Karst of Wulong
So magnificent I thought it was CGI
Made famous by Zhang Yimou in Curse of Golden Flower and then by Michael Bay in Transformers: Age of Extinction, this little county 139km southeast of Chong Qing, possesses million-year-old karst so magnificent that when I first saw it on-screen, I thought it was the works of CGI.
Well well well, turns out nature has spent thousands of years working tirelessly to form these wonderful landscapes. Here, the mighty Yangtze River has spent millenniums cutting through the mountains and creating this magnificent long narrow gorge. Here are the 4 major attractions in Wulong, each with countless steep walls, limestone formations, caves, and underground rivers.
Three Natural Bridges
According to ancient legends, the Three Bridges are actually three dragons that gradually merged with the mountains before becoming the stone formations we see today. Through a geologist lens however, the structure is formed by the collapse of carbonate rock which was eroded by water overtime. In fact, the Tianlong, Qinglong and Heilong Bridge are actually the largest natural bridge group in Asia.
The first bridge called the Tianlong 天龙 or Sky Dragon Bridge is also the largest among the three. Underneath the bridge is a cave that felt like a labyrinth and was said to have been a bandit hideout once upon a time. The main cave is more than 400 meters long, with numerous large and small passages leading off from it.
The crème de la crème here is the quadrangle building called the Tianfu Official Station, built by blue bricks and tiles with exquisitely carved beams. Historically, the Tianfu Official Station used to be a post station connecting two regions during the Tang Dynasty (618–907) and later dynasties. Even today, it still plays an important part in keeping villages connected as locals treat it as a major rest stop on their travels. This is the landscape that I thought had been CGI-ed in the Curse of the Golden Flower. In the movie, hundreds of guards drop down from the high-attitude mountains by rope onto the roof of the building to kill a senior general on orders from the king.
The second bridge, the Qinglong 青龙 or Azure Dragon Bridge, is the steepest and highest bridge of the three. It gets its name for the rainbows that often appear through the arch of the bridge after rain, which makes it look like a gateway in the sky.
The last bridge is the Heilong 黑龙 or Black Dragon Bridge, which is positioned at the bottom of two cliffs. According to local legend, the Black Dragon often occupied the local river, which blocked the journeys to the sea and caused flooding in coastal villages. Later, a small yellow dragon defeated the evil dragon and saved the people. Before the development of the scenic spot, only a few local villagers dared to pass here after 4,5pm because it was always dark here by then and the cries of local wildlife started sounding like monsters.
I have seen some incredible karst structures in my time, like the Gui Lin peaks memorialised in Chinese RMB20 note but the landform here is utterly different. Whereas Guilin karst scene exudes quietness and solitude, the karst here is full of life as trees grow directly on the stones and spring water spill by the drops from the top of the bridges.
Longshuixia Gap 龙水峡
Unlike Three Natural Gorges, Longshuixia’s fissured karst is still evolving. The 2km walk showcases natural bridges, karst tiankeng, subterranean rivers and deep towering 80–210m cliffs of fissure canyons.
This fissure was first formed in the second stage of Yanshan Movement (140 to 70 million years ago). With primitive forests, waterfalls, springs and gorges here, you can actually feel the how old the Earth is.
It’s located right next to the Three Natural Bridges. Simply board a travel bus at the parking lot of Three Natural Bridges for a transfer to Longshuixia Gap. The drive is only about 10 minutes. The stone steps here is rather steep and slippery, so wear anti-slip footwear.
Furong Cave 芙蓉洞
This large-scale limestone cave, formed 1.2 million years ago is about 2700m long. This cave’s significance lays not only in its expansive volume but also the rich diversity of speleothems (mineral deposit typically formed in limestone solutional caves) found within its chambers.
There are over 70 kinds of karst sediments in here. These speleothems include coral and dog-teeth like crystalline calcite flowers as well as a variety of helictites and crystalline gypsum flowers. Furong Cave is an exemplary solutional cave formation created by the dissolution of bedrock by natural acid in groundwater.
How to get here
Located 190km from Chongqing City centre, this is the closest Wulong county attraction to Chong Qing city so you could stop by here on the way to Wulong or back to Chongqing.
If you are already in Wulong County, board the tourist bus from Wulong Bus Station to Jiangkou Town. You need to tell the driver you will go to Furong Cave in advance. If the bus can’t go to Furong Cave, then you need to transfer to minibus at Jiangkou Town to Furong Cave, and it will take about 1.5 hours from Wulong to Furong Cave.
Fairy Mountain 仙女山 Xian Nv Shan
This national forest park covers an area of 8910 hectares, with an average altitude of 1900 m while the highest peak can reach up to 2033 m. It’s popular due to its unique alpine steppe scenery but we didn’t make it here due to time-constraint and weather (the area was totally covered in heavy fog/cloud, which is common in winter).
Our 2-day itinerary:
Day 1: Chong Qing to Wulong town by private car (after lunch). Stopped by Furong cave to explore for 2–3 hours before checking in at a hotel in Wulong county town.
Day 2: Three Natural Bridges and Longshuixia Gap, before heading back to Chong Qing by train.
Chong Qing — Wulong on Public Transport
- Take a bus from Chongqing bus station to Wulong town (¥60yuan, 3 hours)
- Minibus from Wulong town to Wulong karst (¥8yuan, 40mins)
Anyone in Chongqing should spend the time to see Wulong. If not for the tranquility of nature, then at least for the wonderful boost of rich oxygen, so rarely found amidst the grey skies of Chongqing.
This post is part of the Life in China series.1. 10 Steps to Loving Chongqing
A-freak-of-nature kind of city2. Chongqing Express
How to soak in this city’s urban madness3. China Through Films
Cinematic trips into the voyage of the breathtaking world of traditional and contemporary China, and whatever lies in between.I hope they will help you begin to understand this mind-boggling country.
