| Southern China karst region developed various karst landscapeswith high quality and taste, containing extremely importantaesthetic value.“South China Karst” is a serial nomination by StateParty--China to World Heritage Committee. It consists of phase I(includes Shilin Karst, Libo Karst, Wulong Karst) and phase II(includes Guilin Karst, Shibing Karst and Jinfoshan Karst, as wellas Huanjiang Karst as the extension of Libo Karst), and they arethe best references in showing karst geomorphology and naturallandscapes under the criteria (vii) and (viii) of World Heritage.The study, just during the period of nominating “South China Karst”phase II by Chinese government, meanwhile, because of lackingbibliographical information to systematic research on landscapebeauty of southern China karst, tells the landscape and naturalbeauty of southern China karst, global comparative analysis inbeauty of “South China Karst”, outstanding universal value andcontributions on natural beauty of southern China karst, adoptingthe methods of field study, literature research, comparativeanalysis etc., based on karst geomorphology, landscape aesthetics,world heritage values etc. basic theories. Through the research,the main achievements and conclusions are as follows:1. Southern China karst landscape and natural beauty: SouthernChina karst has developed and preserved a complete and unique karstgeomorphological landscape series story. It contains superlativenatural landscapes, with exceptional aesthetic and heritage value.“South China Karst” not only develops pinnacle, cone and tower karst,also develops tiankeng, canyon, mesa, dolomite karst, karst cave system, speleothems and a series of representative karst landscapes,completing and enriching the aesthetic characteristics andaesthetic value of southern China karst, also showing its complexevolutionary history. Shilin Karst develops a variety of stoneforest forms: pinnacle and tower karst; Jinfoshan Karst ischaracterized with mesa karst and two grade closed cliffs; WulongKarst develops a set of karst landscapes comprising canyon cave ofFurongjiang River, canyon natural bridges of Yangshuihe River andHouping Tiankeng; Shibing Karst is featured with dolomite canyon,columnar isolated peaks, clustered fengcong and knife-rimmedmountains; Libo-Huanjiang Karst is outstanding for spectacularprimary cone karst; Guilin Karst is the most perfect land towerkarst landscape. This paper is an important research achievementfirstly focused on landscape and natural beauty of southern Chinakarst. It’s an important project with great theoretical andpractical significance, increasing experience to the study ofsimilar projects.2. Global comparative analysis of “South China Karst” based oncriteria (vii): under the world heritage criterion (vii), the6regions of “South China Karst” are globally compared and analyzedwith other world heritages, tentative heritages, and otherpotential non heritage, as well as the sites of “South China Karst”.Through the comparative analysis, it shows that every site of “SouthChina Karst” develops and preserves the remarkable karst landscape,more typical and representative than the global same type karstlandscape in the world. However, our understanding on comparisonobjects was very limited, and the research extent was unbalanced,which needs to be studied in the further.3. The World Heritage Value on natural beauty and aesthetic criteria of southern China karst: The nominated sites of phase IIwill constitute a more complete serial heritage with phase I.“SouthChina Karst” almost contains all the karst landscape forms,especially pinnacle karst (shilin), table mountain karst, gorgekarst, dolomite karst, cone karst, tower karst landscapes, whichare the outstanding examples and representative sites. The OUV andcontributions of “South China Karst” make an addition to theaesthetic characteristics and aesthetic value of the southern Chinakarst. The other World Heritages featured with karst in southernChina karst region are Huanglong and Jiuzhaigou, both of which arethe typical representative of tufa karst, as well as the cards oftufa landscapes in southern China karst. Other five potential sitesrepresent respectively tiankeng, ground seam canyon, cave,waterfall and other landscape types, and their aesthetic valuesneed to be recognized and affirmed internationally. |
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