Fanjingshan (Fanjing Mountain)

The Fanjingshan World Heritage property is located in southwest China, covering a total area of 40,275 hectares, fully enclosed by a buffer zone of 37,239 hectares. Fanjingshan is located in a monsoonal climatic context and is an important source of water for the surrounding landscapes and beyond, with some 20 rivers and streams feeding the Wujiang and Yuanjiang river systems, both of which ultimately drain into the Yangtze River.

The property consists of two parts, namely the Jian Nan subtropical evergreen forests ecoregion (64 percent) and the Guizhou Plateau broadleaf and mixed forests ecoregion (36 percent).

The highest peak, Fenghuangshan, has an elevation of 2,570 metres above sea level and the property covers an altitudinal range of more than 2,000 metres.

The resulting vertical stratification of vegetation falls within three major altitudinal vegetation zones: evergreen broadleaf forest, mixed evergreen and deciduous broadleaf forest and mixed deciduous broadleaf and conifer and scrub forest.

Fanjingshan is an island of metamorphic rock in a sea of karst and is home to many ancient and relict plant and animal species which originated in the Tertiary Period, between 65 million and 2 million years ago. The property’s geologic and climatic characteristics have shaped its flora which behaves as if it were on an island.

A total of 3,724 plant species have been recorded in the property, an impressive 13 percent of China’s total flora. The property is characterised by an exceptionally high richness in bryophytes as well as one of the distribution centres for gymnosperms in China. The diversity of invertebrates is also very high with 2,317 species. A total of 450 vertebrate species are found inside the property.