The Shilin Scenic Area of Yunnan Province is located in Kunming Lunan Yi Autonomous County, 80 kilometers away from the urban area of Kunming. It is one of the first batch of national key scenic spots approved by the State Council in 1982. It has the most typical karst landform landscape in the world, covering an area of 350 square kilometers. It is known as the "Natural Museum of Shaping Landforms" and is one of China's four major natural landscapes. The reporter has come here twice for sightseeing and gathering customs. The unique natural scenery is deeply unforgettable and has endless longing for it.

Shilin Scenic Area (Photo: Feng Ganyong)

I remember that the first time I came here was on November 26, 1998 in the last century. The reporter accompanied the film crew of "China National Sports" to end the filming mission in southeastern Yunnan and visited Kunming on the way back from Wenshan Zhuang and Miao Autonomous Prefecture. The second time was on October 28, 2005, when the reporter accompanied the China Railway special train into Xiangyungui Collection and went to Shilin.

First photo taken by Stone Forest (Photo: Hu Xiaofei)

Although we visited the Stone Forest twice, we each had their own focus. If the first time we came here was free, due to time constraints, there were relatively few sightseeing areas. The second time, because I was more formal with the tour group, I not only visited many scenic spots, but also felt very satisfied when I visited the tour guide's vivid explanations.

Photo taken in the second stone forest (Photo: Wang Jue)

The formation of the stone forest originated from the natural wonder formed by the seabed limestone layer more than 200 million years ago through crustal movement, seawater and wind and rain erosion. It mainly includes seven scenic spots including Big Stone Forest, Naigu Stone Forest, Dadieshui Waterfall, Zhiyun Cave, Qifeng Cave, Changhu Lake, and Yuehu Lake.

Stone Forest Landscape (Photo: Feng Ganyong)

According to scientific identification, this place was a vast ocean 27,000 years ago. Limestone deposition areas gradually formed on the seabed. After crustal movement, the seabed rose to form land. For hundreds of millions of years, after long-term rain erosion and weathering of nature, some limestone rocks were dissolved and precipitated, some collapsed and fell, and some piled up. About 2 million years ago, these millions of stone peaks, stone pillars, stalagmites, and stone buds were formed. Looking from afar, they looked like large pieces of dangerous rock pillars in the jungle. As early as the late Ming and early Qing Dynasties, people called it the "Stone Forest".

Landscape of Stone Forest Jianfeng (Photo: Feng Ganyong)

The Stone Forest Scenic Area is lined with stone peaks and thousands of peaks. The various stone peaks, stone pillars, stone flowers, stone flats and stone flows are like a wild and dark forest and are known as the "No. 1 wonder in the world."

Overlooking the Stone Forest (Photo: Feng Ganyong)

The wonders of the stone forest are rare in the world. It shows its unique style to the world with its grand and wonderful karst landform. The tourist attractions centered on the Shilin Scenic Area have gone through more than ten years of intensive planning and construction. While maintaining their original features, they have incorporated the gardening characteristics of Chinese gardens, making them increasingly attractive.

The stone forest full of autumn scenery (Photo: Feng Ganyong)

The shopping environment of Shilin Scenic Area is improving day by day. The large ethnic shopping mall adjacent to the parking lot has a unique architectural shape, reflecting the local ethnic characteristics and the landform style of the stone forest. Strolling through it, shopping, tasting snacks, and browsing the shopping mall building complex is an indispensable part of the tour.

Shilin Lake (Photo: Feng Ganyong)

In addition, with the opening of high-grade highways, convenient transportation conditions have been created for traveling to Shilin. On the basis of continuous improvement of highway and railway transportation, the routes connecting various scenic spots in Shilin are now more convenient and comfortable. The Shilin Tourism Management and Service Agency has also launched more day and night tours in a timely manner, allowing people to travel frequently and keep the strange scenery and excellent services of Shilin in people's beautiful memories.

Overlooking the Wangfeng Pavilion (Photo: Feng Ganyong)

Generally speaking, after entering the Stone Forest, the first thing to visit is the Big Stone Forest Scenic Area. The Great Stone Forest is composed of dense stone peaks, like a gravel basin. The stone forest here stands upright and obtrusive, with smooth lines and a light bluish-gray color. The tallest independent rock pillar is more than 40 meters high.

Maze-like stone forest (Photo: Feng Ganyong)

Among them are typical attractions such as "Lotus Peak","Jianfeng Pool", and "Phoenix Combed Wings". The most famous ones are the "Stone Forest Scenic Area" where Long Yun inscribed the inscription "Stone Forest", and the "Wangfeng Pavilion" is the best place to appreciate the "Forest Sea". People walking in the peak forest within a few steps are blocked by stone peaks. After winding and winding, it is another world.

Beautiful scenery outside Xiaoshi Forest (Photo: Feng Ganyong)

After coming out of the maze-like Big Stone Forest, walking outside, passing through a green open land, you will enter the beautiful Little Stone Forest Scenic Area. Compared with the dense large stone forest, the adjacent small stone forest looks sparse and elegant. The broad and solid stone walls are like screens, dividing the small stone forest into several gardens.

Small Stone Forest Landscape (Photo: Feng Ganyong)

In 1964, it was written by Ge Yan and Liu Qiong from Shanghai Tianma Film Studio; a movie music scenery feature film "Ashima" directed by Liu Qiong was based on this.

Xiaoshilin Lake View (Photo: Feng Ganyong)

Today, all the Yi girls here are proud to be called Ashima. As a result, Ashima's name also became the collective name for the girls here. It is understood that "Ashima" is Yi, and translated into Chinese, she is a girl of gold, beautiful and kind.

Ashima Landscape (Photo: Feng Ganyong)

The most famous scenic spot in the Little Stone Forest Scenic Area is also the "Ashima" landscape. This is a huge stone shaped like a girl. Whenever night falls, colorful lights shine on it, making it even more colorful and charming. Ashima's beautiful legends, colorful Sani embroidery, ancient and magical "Torch Festival", and warm and cheerful Sani songs and dances make the natural landscape and cultural landscape of the Stone Forest complement each other, making it intoxicating and unforgettable.

Taking a photo wearing national costumes (Photo: Feng Ganyong)

After leaving the Shilin Scenic Area, the tourist fleet took more than an hour to arrive at a park called Colorful Yunnan with strong ethnic characteristics.

Small Stone Forest is green and green (Photo: Feng Ganyong)

The poetic names "Colorful Yunnan" and "South of Colorful Clouds" are widely known to the world like "Shangri-La"; they represent the characteristics of Yunnan and Yunnan, Yunnan's style, as well as people's praise of Yunnan; Yunnan, with its vast territory, abundant resources, outstanding people, beautiful and fascinating, has always called itself "South of Colorful Clouds, the Origin of All Green" and has been widely recognized by people.

Colorful Yunnan Peacock Garden (Photo: Feng Ganyong)

Colorful Yunnan is a large-scale comprehensive tourism and shopping enterprise integrating tourism commodity production, tourism sightseeing, tourism shopping, and tourism catering. The park has a total operating area of 36000 square meters and has jurisdiction over eight major operating venues in Yunnan Province, including Colorful Yunnan Jade Jewelry Hall, Handicraft Hall, Local Specialty Hall, Famous Medicine Hall, Plant Essential Oil Hall, Famous Tea Garden, Colorful Yunnan Peacock Garden, Yixinyuan Hotel. The two major processing factories of jade jewelry and arts and crafts are the tourist shopping center with the largest operating scale and the highest operating level.

Peacock opens its screen (Photo: Feng Ganyong)

The Colorful Yunnan Park is picturesque. Even if you don't shop, the beautiful scenery here is enough to make people forget to leave. In particular, the Peacock Garden in the park is very characteristic.

Scenery of Peacock Garden (Photo: Feng Ganyong)

Strolling in the Colorful Yunnan Peacock Garden, you will find waterfalls flying in the forest, gurgling streams, singing birds and fragrant flowers. More than a thousand peacocks walk together in the forest, or live alone on high branches, standing out from the crowd, with more than a meter of green feathers spreading gracefully; Some jump and play, with a graceful posture and graceful dance; or pair, intimate drizzle, pure and sweet; or spread their wings and open their screens, colorful and graceful.

Wonderful national songs and dances (Photo: Feng Ganyong)

Swimming with dancing peacocks in the Peacock Garden, taking photos, feeding, or appreciating the beauty of peacocks can make people realize the beauty of harmony and harmony between man and nature. In particular, the wonderful folk song and dance evening performances in the park in the evening made the tourists who had been visiting for a day relieved of their tiredness and felt more pleasing to the eye, and made the beautiful Stone Forest Tour unforgettable. (Photo and text: Feng Ganyong)