The hills here are made of rounded granite domes rather than the pointed limestone of the rest of the prefecture, and that difference is the whole landscape. 封开龙山 Fēngkāi Lóngshān is a scenic area of pale weathered granite in 封开县 Fēngkāi Xiàn, at the western edge of 肇庆 Zhàoqìng where Guangdong meets Guangxi, and its features are boulder piles, domes, deep clefts between them and forest growing out of the gaps. Boardwalks and stone steps run between the formations, and because the rock is granite the shapes are smooth and rounded where the limestone country nearby is jagged, which gives the place a character unlike any other park in the province.
The site is also a geological monument. The granite here is part of a large batholith that cooled underground and was then exposed by erosion, and the domes are the unjointed cores of it, left standing as the softer rock around them went. The clefts between the domes are joint lines widened by weathering, and some of them are narrow enough to walk through with a hand on each wall. Because the surface weathers to a pale grey and the vegetation is dense, the effect from a distance is of a range of bald heads among trees, which is roughly what the local name describes.
Practicalities
Tickets. About ¥60 for the main scenic area, with occasional extra charges for the shuttle to the upper sections and for anything on the water below.
Opening hours. Roughly 08:00 to 17:30 daily, and earlier closing in winter when the light goes. The granite is at its best in the morning, before the haze builds, because the whole attraction is the shape of the rock against the sky.
Getting there. 封开县 Fēngkāi Xiàn is around two hours by road west of 肇庆市 Zhàoqìng Shì, on the 西江 Xī Jiāng near the boundary with Guangxi, and the scenic area is a short drive from the county town. There is no high-speed station in the county itself, so most visitors come by road or by bus from Zhaoqing; a car makes the trip much easier, and the drive along the river is part of the point.
Closing day. No closing day, though sections of the boardwalk are closed for maintenance after heavy rain and the upper trails can be slippery. It is worth asking at the gate which routes are open, since the area is large and the closures are not always well signposted.
The Boundary Country
封开 is an old administrative name for a frontier district, and the county sits exactly where the West River comes down out of Guangxi into Guangdong, which has made it a crossing point for as long as there have been roads. The 贺江 Hé Jiāng joins the West River here, and the old town of 封川 Fēngchuān on the bank has a history that runs back to the Han period. The scenic area is the natural highlight, but the river, the ferries and the market towns along it are the reason the county feels different from the rest of the prefecture: this is a place where two provinces meet, and the food, the speech and the architecture all show it.
The other local sight worth combining with a visit is the 千层峰 Qiāncéng Fēng, a ridge of layered rock a short drive away, which is sandstone rather than granite and looks nothing like it, so the two together make a decent argument for the county’s geology. Neither is crowded, and both are ordinary domestic parks rather than international destinations, which is the appeal.
Words and Names
龙山 Lóngshān is the scenic area, 封开县 Fēngkāi Xiàn the county, and 肇庆 Zhàoqìng the prefecture. 花岗岩 huāgāngyán is granite, 石蛋 shídàn a granite dome or boulder, 一线天 yīxiàntiān the narrow cleft that shows a strip of sky, and 千层峰 Qiāncéng Fēng the layered ridge nearby. 西江 Xī Jiāng is the West River and 贺江 Hé Jiāng the tributary that joins it here; 封川 Fēngchuān is the old town on the bank.
flowcloud would say that the granite domes are the best argument for a landscape being geology rather than scenery, since what you are looking at is the inside of a mountain that spent a hundred million years underground and is now sitting in the open wearing a hat of trees.
Getting there: by road west from 肇庆市 Zhàoqìng Shì to 封开县 Fēngkāi Xiàn, about two hours along the 西江 Xī Jiāng towards the Guangxi boundary, then a short drive to the scenic area; there is no high-speed rail in the county, so a car or the county bus from Zhaoqing is the practical route. Go in the morning for the light on the rock, ask at the gate which boardwalks are open, and combine it with the 千层峰 Qiāncéng Fēng ridge and the river town of 封川 Fēngchuān rather than treating it as a single stop.