Preparation for the bid to UNESCO for World Heritage status of the rare karst funnel in south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region has begun to draw more attention to the landscape formed 65 million years ago.

The funnel-shaped limestone formation covers 20 sq. km., is 520 meters in depth, between 540 meters and 560 meters in diameter, and has a holding capacity of 55 million cubic meters. An underground river runs directly below the karst funnel, along with a primitive forest, which is the largest of its kind found underground in the world.

The Leye County government, where the site is located, is also working on a blueprint for developing tourism to the underground wonderland with the consultation of the Karst Geology Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Geographic Sciences. An overall plan is scheduled to be sketched out by October next year.

Some experts and an expedition team consisting of 60 cave explorers from China, Britain and Ireland have inspected the newly discovered karst landscape. They named it "a museum of karst funnel", which contains nearly all varieties of karst cavity formation in the world. The virgin forest has remained undisturbed from human exploration.

(People’s Daily 12/27/2000)