World Natural Heritage: Three Parallel Rivers of Yunnan Protected Areas (3)

In addition to the unique wonders of three parallel rivers, the region also gathers natural landscapes including snowy mountains, valleys, lakes on mountains, glaciers, meadows and the Danxia landforms, and is the museum with the richest geological landforms in the world. The landforms of the mountains have a vertical distribution according to different altitudes, including mountain valleys, snowy mountain peaks, wetlands on plateaus, forests and meadows and freshwater lakes from the 760-meter-high dry-hot valley of Nujiang River to the 6,740-meter-high Kawagebo Peak. There are 118 snowy mountains of over 5,000 meters above sea level in the region. Kawagebo Peak, the main peak of Meili Snow Mountain which extends from the summit until the forest zone of Mingyong Village, is covered with glaciers from 10,000 years ago, which are currently the world's most spectacular and rare modern glaciers with a low-latitude, low altitude maritime monsoon climate.

Moreover, the largest and most complete Danxia landforms in China are distributed on Laojun Mountain of Lijiang City. There are dozens of well-known mountain lakes in the region including Tingming Lake on the Gaoligong Mountain in Lushui County, the Gandiyibi Lake, Enreyibi Lake and Nianboyibi Lake nearby the Peak of Biluo Snow Mountain in Fugong County and the Bita Lake and Shudu Lake in Zhongdian County. There also are many mountain lakes such as the lakes of the Thousand Lake Mountain, the Laojun Mountain, the Red Mountain and the Laowo Mountain. According to surveys, there are almost 100 distinctive scenic spots with an area larger than 50 square kilometers and the other scenic spots are even more numerous. Therefore, the region can be called the miniature of natural landscapes in the Northern Hemisphere, except for desert landscapes.