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Jiuxiang Scenic Region
Among the scenic sites specializing
in karst landscape, Jiuxiang scenic area is the closest
one from Kunming , the capital of Yunnan province. In the
scenic area, there are over 100 karst caves of different
Sizes, and Jiuxiang is confirmed to be the biggest cave
clusters in China with the greatest number of caves and
most wonderful in-cave scenic . The cave clusters are listed
as one of the national-level key scenic areas.
Jiuxiang scenic area is located in
jiuxiang township which is inhabited by the Yi and Hui ethnic
groups of Yiliang County of Knming municipality. The scenic
area is only 90 kilometers from provincial capital Kunming.
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Jiuxiamg is the habitat to the aboriginal
Yi ethnic people for many generations. The scenic site covers
a total area of 172 square kilometers, in which are enchantingly
beautiful natural landscape, magnificent underground scenery,
long-standing humanistic scenes and intense ethnic folk
customs. Legendary tales say that the karst coves in Jiuxiang
were originally gold pearls, which were the royal gifts
made and presented by the Heavenly Emperor Yuhuang to congratulate
the 1,000th birtheday of Mother Goddess Xiwangmu. At the
royal banquet, all the heavenly immortals vied to see and
play With the precious pearls. The gold string threading
the pearls were accidentally broken, and the gold Pearls
fell from the heaven to earth, and turned into the Jiuxiang
caves of different size , while the gold string turned into
the Maitian River which meanders through the caves.
In fact, Jiuxiang krast caves were
developed in the ancient dolomite 600 million years ago.
Altogether, there are over 100 caves in the area. ,and Jiuxiang
is praised as the "Home of Karst caves". The local
saying goes, "There are so many caves in Jiuxiang that
people can hardly finish counting them in their lifetime
". From this visitors get to know the great number
and grandeur of the Jiuxiang caves.
Jiuxiang scenic area could be divided
into 5 scenic sites which are listed as the following: The
Rainbow Bridge , the Sanjiao cave ,Dashaba, Alulong and
the Moon Lake. Up to the present, only the Rainbow Bridge
scenic site has been developed for tourism purposes, while
the rest 4 sites are still awaiting for future development.
The developed Rainbow scenic site
includes the following 10 major scenes: the Yincui Gorge,
the Soul-Stirring Gorge, the Ancient River meandering through
the cave, the Lion Hall, the Fairy's Palace, the Twin Waterfalls,
the Fairy's Paddy Fields, Village of the Yi Ethnic people,
the Up-Side-Down Underground Stone Forest and the Tourist
Cable Way.
Because of the immense dimension,
unrivalled splendor, complete types diversified styles,Jiuxiang
is praised as the "Museum of Karst Caves". The
caves are not only ideal tourist attractions, but also valuable
assets for scientific studies and in-cave adventure activities
. It is ont surprising that Jiuxiang is praised by experts
as the "Mysterious Heritage of the Earth"
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