Atlas of China
Qingyuan 清远Qīngyuǎn
Pai Yao hill villages, rafting gorges and hot springs north of Guangzhou
About Qingyuan
Qingyuan, the largest of Guangdong's prefectures by area, climbs from the North River plain beside Guangzhou to the Nanling Mountains, where Shikengkong, at 1,902 m, is Guangdong's highest peak. Hot springs and rafting gorges such as Gulong Gorge draw weekend crowds from the Pearl River Delta, and boats run through the Lianzhou Underground River. In the north-west, the Pai Yao, whose homeland is Liannan, live in tiered villages such as Nangang Ancient Yao Village, and Lianzhou hosts an international photography festival.
What to eat in Qingyuan
- Yingde black tea (英德红茶)
Listed sites in Qingyuan
20 sites in Qingyuan are on the official lists. Those with a page of their own link to it; the rest open as cards on the map.
- Lianzhou Underground River 连州地下河 5A scenic area · on the map
A three-level limestone cave in the hills north of Lianzhou, where two dry upper levels lead down to an underground river that visitors travel by boat. - Baojing Palace Cave 宝晶宫 4A scenic area · on the map
A limestone show cave in the Yanziyan hills south-west of Yingde, found in 1981 by a provincial hydrogeology team searching for water. - Dongtian Xianjing (Yingxi Tiankeng) 洞天仙境 4A scenic area · on the map
A karst scenic area in the Yingxi Peak Forest Corridor of western Yingde, billed as South China's first tiankeng: a large collapsed sinkhole among the limestone peaks. - Guangdong First Peak (Shikengkong) 广东第一峰 4A scenic area · on the map
The scenic area around Shikengkong, at 1,902 m the highest point in Guangdong, on the Nanling range where Yangshan meets Ruyuan County and Hunan. - Guangdong Yao Museum 广东瑶族博物馆 4A scenic area · on the map
A museum in Liannan's county town devoted to the Yao people, covering the history and culture of the Yao branches across China and abroad. - Gulong Gorge 古龙峡 4A scenic area · on the map
A forested canyon in Qingxin District developed for adventure tourism, best known for white-water rafting on a 6.1 km course that drops 378 m through tight bends and chutes. - Hezhong Hot Spring (Qingxin Hot Spring) 河中温泉 4A scenic area · on the map
A hot-spring resort in Sankeng town, Qingxin District, with open-air pools beside a tree-lined river embankment; the name means 'hot spring in the river'. - Huangchuan Three Gorges & Longtan 湟川三峡·龙潭 4A scenic area · on the map
A river scenic area south of Lianzhou where the Huangchuan, a headwater of the North River, winds through three steep gorges of cliffs and dripping limestone, praised by the 17th-century writer Qu Dajun. - Huangteng Gorge 黄腾峡 4A scenic area · on the map
A forested gorge in the hills just north of Qingyuan city, nicknamed 'little Jiuzhaigou', where a long, narrow mountain stream has been turned into a white-water rafting run. - Jinzi Mountain 金子山 4A scenic area · on the map
A mountain scenic area in the uplands of Lianshan Zhuang and Yao Autonomous County, promoted as a place to see snow in southern China, with rare rime ice on the trees in winter. - Jiqingli Xianhu (Jiqingli Black Tea Valley) 积庆里仙湖 4A scenic area · on the map
A tea and hot-spring resort area north-west of Yingde, the city known as China's home of black tea, built around the hillside plantations of the Jiqingli Black Tea Valley. - Jiulong Peak Forest Town (Fenglin Xiaozhen) 峰林晓镇 4A scenic area · on the map
A large farm park and rural resort in Jiulong town, set among the limestone pinnacles of the Yingxi Peak Forest, Guangdong's densest belt of karst peaks. - Julongwan Hot Spring Resort 聚龙湾温泉 4A scenic area · on the map
A hot-spring resort in Tangtang, the hot-spring town of Fogang County, with bathing pools and hotel accommodation, built by a Hong Kong-invested company. - Nangang Ancient Yao Village 南岗千年瑶寨 4A scenic area · on the map
A hillside village of the Pai Yao, a Yao group whose homeland is Liannan, with houses rising in tiers up a steep mountain slope above Sanpai town. - New Yinzhan Hot Spring Resort 新银盏温泉 4A scenic area · on the map
A hot-spring resort at Yinzhan in southern Qingcheng District, built around large open-air thermal pools. - Senbola Holiday Forest 森波拉度假森林 4A scenic area · on the map
A theme resort in the forested hills of Yangjiao Mountain in Fogang County, opened in 2007 by a Hong Kong developer. - Wanshan Chaowang Stony Desert Park 万山朝王 4A scenic area · on the map
A viewpoint and national stony-desertification park in the karst hills south of Liannan's county town, named 'ten thousand hills paying homage to the king' after the ranks of rocky peaks facing it across the valley. - Xilegu Hot Spring Resort 熹乐谷温泉 4A scenic area · on the map
A large hot-spring resort complex in Tangtang, the hot-spring town of Fogang County, set in the hills around Huanghua Lake. - Xuanzhen Rafting 玄真漂流 4A scenic area · on the map
A resort area on the northern edge of Taihe, Qingxin District's main town, centred on rafting down a mountain stream through a wooded gorge. - Huiguang Pagoda 慧光塔 National heritage site · on the map
A six-sided, nine-storey brick pagoda in pavilion style in Lianzhou, first built in 468 under the Liu Song dynasty and rebuilt in the Song.
On the map
Open Qingyuan on the illustrated map to see its outline, its places and listed sites together, and to add them to a trip.
Open Qingyuan on the map