Danxiashan (China Red Stone Park) is located in Renhua County, Shaoguan City, Guangdong Province, between longitude 113°36′25″ and 113°47′53″ E, and latitude 24°51′48″ and 25°04′12″ N. With a total area of 292 square kilometers, it is the largest scenic area in Guangdong Province, a scenic area dominated by danxia landform landscapes, and a World Natural Heritage site.
Danxiashan is the naming site of the world's "danxia landform." It is composed of more than 680 red sandstone and conglomerate rock formations with flat tops, steep sides, and gentle foothills. "Its color is like moist cinnabar, brilliant as rosy clouds," and it is characterized by red cliffs. According to geological research, among the more than 1,200 danxia landform sites discovered in the world, it is the concentrated distribution area of danxia landforms that is the most typically developed, the most complete in type, and the richest in shape.
From 140 million to 70 million years ago, the Danxiashan area was a large inland basin. Affected by the Himalayan orogeny, the surrounding mountains were strongly uplifted, and the basin received a large amount of clastic sediment, forming extremely thick red strata. After 70 million years ago, the crust rose and was gradually eroded. Since 6 million years ago, the basin has undergone many intermittent uplifts, rising on average about 1 meter every 10,000 years. At the same time, flowing water cut downward and eroded, and the red beds of Danxiashan were cut into a stretch of red mountains, which is the Danxiashan scenic area.
Within Danxiashan there are more than 680 large and small stone peaks, stone walls, stone pillars, and natural bridges in total. In terms of strata, structure, geomorphic expression, development process, agent processes, as well as the natural environment and ecological evolution, the research at Danxiashan is the most detailed and in-depth among all danxia landform areas in the country, and it has become a research base for danxia landforms nationwide and even worldwide, as well as a base for science popularization education and teaching practice.
Since its development in 1988, Danxiashan has successively been listed and rated as a National Scenic Area, a National Nature Reserve, a National Geopark, a National AAAA-level Tourist Attraction, and a National AAAAA-level Tourist Attraction. On February 13, 2004, it was approved by UNESCO as one of the first Global Geoparks in the world; in 2010, it was inscribed on the World Heritage List.