China's Zuojiang Huashan Rock Art Cultural Landscape Added to World Heritage List

At the World Heritage Committee's 40th session in Istanbul, nine new cultural sites were added to the World Heritage List. One of the nine was Zuojiang Huashan Rock Art Cultural Landscape. It is China's 49th World Heritage Site and the country's first World Heritage Site of rock art.

Typical karst landscape in Guangxi, China

Also as the first World Cultural Heritage Site in Guangxi Province, the Zuojiang Huashan Rock Art Cultural landscape includes more than 1,900 ancient motifs on cliffs along the 200-kilometer-long riverside of the Zuojiang River. It is commonly called "Huashan" by local people, which means "mountains with motifs". The motifs are all red, depicting human figures, animals, ships, drums, tools and so on, commonly considered to have been created 2000 years ago by the ancient Luoyue people who are believed to be ancestors of the present-day Zhuang People. But as for the art theme, what happened to the creators, and how the paintings were drawn so high up on cliffs are all unknown yet.

The landscape there is very unique with the combination of its mysterious rock art and picturesque karst topography. There are primitive villages where locals still perform rituals related to the rock art, virgin forests inhabiting various plants and animal species, and long rivers winding their way through the magnificent mountains. The fascinating karst topography of the area resembles that of Guilin, which is also located in Guangxi, as part of the well-known southern China karst region and one of the most splendid karsts in the world. 

According to the government, infrastructure there will be improved to develop tourism. If you want to visit China and the spectacular karst landscape in Guangxi, feel free to contact us at trip@odynovotours.com for professional suggestions and a tailor-made tour just for you!