The Most Remarkable Rock Formations in the People's Republic of China
5 places · updated 14 October 2026
In short: By our ranking, the most remarkable rock formations in the People's Republic of China are Three Natural Bridges, Shilin Stone Forest and Moon Hill. The list covers 5 rock formations. Last updated 14 October 2026.
China holds some of the world's largest stretches of karst, where limestone dissolved by monsoon rain leaves towers, natural bridges and stone forests, alongside ancient volcanic rock and desert sandstone in the far west. The range of climates from tropical south to arid interior means that each region sculpts stone in its own way.
The Three Natural Bridges in Wulong, Chongqing, are giant limestone arches left by the collapse of a cave system, part of the South China Karst World Heritage Site. The Shilin Stone Forest in Yunnan is a maze of grey limestone pinnacles shaped by rain over millions of years. At the High Island Reservoir in Hong Kong, hexagonal columns of volcanic rock line the coast, formed about 140 million years ago. Shipton's Arch in Xinjiang, near Kashgar, is one of the tallest natural arches on Earth, named after the mountaineer Eric Shipton.
In this list
| # | Place | Type | UNESCO |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Three Natural Bridges | Natural arch | |
| 2 | Shilin Stone Forest | Rock formation | ✓ |
| 3 | Moon Hill | Natural arch | |
| 4 | High Island Reservoir | Rock formation | |
| 5 | Shipton's Arch | Natural arch |
01 Three Natural Bridges
People's Republic of China29.434° N 107.801° E
Brookqi · Public domain The descent itself is part of the experience: a glass lift drops from the cliff edge into the valley, and the walking path then threads under all three arches in turn, so that each one is seen first as a frame and then as a ceiling.
Did you know? After heavy rain a waterfall spills over Qinglong Bridge, and sunlight in its spray can form a rainbow said to resemble a dragon rising to the sky.
02 Shilin Stone Forest
People's Republic of China24.818° N 103.325° E
- UNESCO World Heritage
- UNESCO natural beauty
- UNESCO Global Geopark
CEphoto, Uwe Aranas · CC BY-SA 3.0 In 2007 the Naigu area and the landscape around Suogeyi village were inscribed by UNESCO as part of the South China Karst, a serial World Heritage site that brings together some of the finest karst in the country. Shilin is also the heart of a Yi autonomous county, and the Torch Festival — held on the 24th day of the sixth lunar month, with dancing and wrestling — is its great public celebration.
Did you know? The 1964 film Ashima, based on the Sani epic of the same name, is regarded as China's first colour widescreen musical film.
03 Moon Hill
People's Republic of China24.728° N 110.467° E
Eric T Gunther · CC BY 3.0 Yangshuo itself is a small county town on the west bank of the Li River, ringed by karst towers and long a magnet for travellers; upstream, near the old town of Xingping, lies the stretch of Li River scenery pictured on China's 20-yuan banknote.
Did you know? The arch is the remnant of a cave dissolved by groundwater in the limestone.
04 High Island Reservoir
People's Republic of China · 18.9 km from Hong Kong22.375° N 114.351° E
Minghong · CC BY-SA 4.0 The reservoir itself is a feat of engineering. After mainland China cut off water supplies during the unrest of 1967, the Hong Kong government responded by damming the Kwun Mun Channel, the sea strait that once separated High Island from the peninsula. Designed by Binnie & Partners and built between 1969 and 1979, the scheme used two main dams, three smaller ones and aqueducts collecting stream water from across Sai Kung; with a capacity of about 281 million cubic metres it is still Hong Kong's largest reservoir by volume. A memorial beside the East Dam honours five workers who died during construction.
Did you know? More than 200,000 rock columns are exposed across roughly 100 square kilometres of Sai Kung's coastline and islands.
05 Shipton's Arch
People's Republic of China39.660° N 75.524° E
LoudNotes at English Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 3.0 Exact height estimates still vary by source, ranging from roughly 365 to 460 metres, which says as much about how difficult the site is to survey as about the arch itself. Even at the low end, the opening is taller than most of the world's skyscrapers, framed by a keyhole-narrow slot in the rock rather than sitting out in the open the way famous arches usually do.
Did you know? Its span is only about 55 metres, a slender opening compared with a height many times greater.
How this list is ranked
Places are chosen for how they look, not for how famous they are: each one has its own description and a photograph credited to its author. The order is a single world ranking that weighs the beauty of the place in curated photography together with how widely it is documented — the number of language editions of its encyclopedia article and how often that article is read in a year. The list is rebuilt as places are added, so the order and the counts on this page are always current.
Questions people ask
- What are the most remarkable rock formations in the People's Republic of China?
- On our list, Three Natural Bridges ranks first, followed by Shilin Stone Forest and Moon Hill.
- How was the Shilin Stone Forest formed?
- Shilin formed from limestone laid down in a shallow sea around 270 million years ago. After uplift, rainwater dissolved the rock along cracks, leaving tall pinnacles separated by narrow corridors.
- Who discovered Shipton's Arch?
- The arch was described in the 1940s by the British mountaineer Eric Shipton, then consul in Kashgar. It was largely forgotten until a 2000 expedition supported by National Geographic located and measured it.
- How many rock formations are on this list in the People's Republic of China?
- The list covers 5 rock formations.